Sociology of Culture Commons^™

Dark Tourism Scholarship: A Critical Review, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Commonly referred to as dark tourism or thanatourism, the act of touristic travel to sites of or sites associated with death and disaster has gained significant attention with media imaginations and academic scholarship. However, despite a growing body of literature on the representation and tourist experience of deathscapes within the visitor economy, dark tourism as a field of study is still very much in its infancy. Moreover, questions remain of the academic origins of the dark tourism concept as well as its contribution to the broader social scientific study of tourism and death education. Thus, the purpose of my invited …

Dark Tourism And Significant Other Death: Towards A Model Of Mortality Mediation, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Dark tourism and the commodification of death has become a pervasive feature within the contemporary visitor economy. Drawing upon the thanatological condition of society and a structural analysis of modern-day mortality, this paper establishes theoretical foundations for exploring dark tourism experiences. The study argues that in Western secular society where ordinary death is sequestered behind medical and professional façades, yet extraordinary death is recreated for popular consumption, dark tourism mediates a potential social filter between life and death. Ultimately, the research suggests that dark tourism is a modern mediating institution, which not only provides a physical place to link the …

Dark Tourism And The Cadaveric Carnival: Mediating Life And Death Narratives At Gunter Von Hagens' Body Worlds, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Death is universal, yet dying is not. Consequently, within contemporary secularised society, the process of dying has largely been relocated from the familiar environs of the family and community to a back region of medical and death industry professionals. It is argued that this institutional sequestration of death has made modern dying ‘bad’ against a romantic portrayal of a death with dignity, or a ‘good’ death. Moreover, the structural analysis of death reveals issues of ontological security and mortality meaning for the Self. This paper, therefore, adds to that analysis, and specifically examines the construction of mortality meaning within the …

Dark Tourism Experiences: Mediating Between Life And Death, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Life, Death And Dark Tourism: Future Research Directions, Philip R. Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

The Darker Side Of Travel: The Theory And Practice Of Dark Tourism, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Making Absent Death Present: Consuming Dark Tourism In Contemporary Society, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

"It's Bloody Guide" - Fun, Fear And A Lighter Side Of Dark Tourism At The Dungeon Visitor Attractions, Uk, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

No abstract provided.

Consuming Dark Tourism: A Thanatological Perspective, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

Despite increasing academic attention paid to dark tourism, understanding of the concept remains limited, particularly from a consumption perspective. That is, the literature focuses primarily on the supply of dark tourism; less attention, however, has been paid to the demand for ‘dark’ touristic experiences. This theoretical paper seeks to address this gap in the literature. Drawing upon the contemporary sociology of death, it explores the relationship between socio-cultural perspectives on mortality and the potential of dark tourism as a means of confronting death in modern societies. In so doing, it proposes a model of dark tourism consumption within a thanatological …

Dark Tourism – An Old Concept In A New World, Philip R. Stone

Dr Philip Stone

Consuming Dark Tourism: A Call For Research, Philip Stone Dr

Dr Philip Stone

There are an increasing plethora of sites associated with death, tragedy or the macabre that have become significant tourist ‘attractions’. As a result, the term ‘dark tourism’ has entered academic discourse. However, dark tourism literature is both eclectic and theoretically fragile. This is especially the case with regards to consumption and its implications for understanding the ‘dark tourist’. Thus it is suggested that the dimensions of dark tourism consumption have not been extracted or interrogated – only assumed. Consequently, with death and the nature of dying at the crux of the dark tourism concept, this article calls for the development …