Dark Tourism in the American West

This edited collection expands scholarly and popular conversations about dark tourism in the American West. The phenomenon of dark tourism-traveling to sites of death, suffering, and disaster for entertainment or educational purposes-has been described and, on occasion, criticized for transforming misfortune and catastrophe into commodity. The impulse, however, continues, particularly in the American West: a liminal and contested space that resonates with stories of tragedy, violent conflict, and disaster. Contributions here specifically examine the mediation and shaping of these spaces into touristic destinations. The essays examine Western sites of massacre and battle (such as Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and the "Waco Siege"), sites of imprisonment (such as Japanese-American internment camps and Alcatraz Island), areas devastated by ecological disaster (such as Martin's Cove and the Salton Sea), and unmediated sites (those sites left to the touristic imagination, with no interpretation of what occurred there, such as the Bennet-Arcane camp).

Autorentext

Jennifer Dawes is Chair of the Department of English, Humanities, and Philosophy at Midwestern State University, USA. Her previous scholarly work includes essays on cannibalism in film and authenticity in western literature as well as the book Across the Plains: Sarah Royce's Western Narrative.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Dark Tourism in the American West2. Interpretation and Memorialization at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site3. Revisiting Waco and the Branch Davidian Tragedy4. East by Northwest: Preserving Pacific War Memory at Hanford and Minidoka5. Contents Over the Carceral Landscape: Space, Place, and Artifacts at the Manzanar National Historic Site6. Captive Memories: Alcatraz Island and the Cultural Work of Prison Tourism7. Reenacting the Handcart Debacle: The Work of Rescue at Martin's Cove on the Mormon Trail8. Recycling Death: Post-Apocalyptic Tourism in the American West9. In the Dark without a Light: Understanding Unmediated Sites of Dark Tourism10. How We Look at Dark Places