Negotiating cultural trauma in tourism

Su, Rui ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0963-6817 and Park, Hyung Yu ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0246-7339 (2022) Negotiating cultural trauma in tourism. Current Issues in Tourism . ISSN 1368-3500 [Article] (Published online first) (doi:10.1080/13683500.2022.2062308)

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Abstract

This study responses to call for an evidentiary frame that incorporates the contested views of cultural trauma in dark tourism sites. Central to this contestation is a failure to break down the victim-perpetrator binary that particularly struggles for truth-seeking transnationally and trans-generationally. This requires a new and critical heritage interpretation, addressing traumatic historical lessons and reaching a reconciliation for future integration and inclusivity. With employment of semi-structure interviews and participant observations, this study of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders illustrates how dark tourism and counter-monuments play a critical role in transforming massacre trauma into commemorative practices. Designing and building new tourism space and artworks as counter-monuments proves to be one significant encoding practice that negotiates more mundane and interactive peacebuilding and reconciliation. Such negotiation contributes to a more meaningful and holistic understanding of cultural trauma, heritage interpretation, memory and identity. Its implications can inspire future research to explore tourism’s transformative potential for remembering, forgetting and healing.

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