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“If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Forthcoming

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“If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism. / James, Sophie; Cronin, James; Patterson, Anthony.
In: Annals of Tourism Research, 07.02.2024.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

James, S, Cronin, J & Patterson, A 2024, '“If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism', Annals of Tourism Research.

APA

James, S., Cronin, J., & Patterson, A. (in press). “If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism. Annals of Tourism Research.

Vancouver

James S, Cronin J, Patterson A. “If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism. Annals of Tourism Research. 2024 Feb 7.

Author

James, Sophie ; Cronin, James ; Patterson, Anthony. / “If You Like Your History Horrible”: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism. In: Annals of Tourism Research. 2024.

Bibtex

@article{932c64fe57244a62bcf79ddf8da4e6b1,
title = "“If You Like Your History Horrible”:: The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism",
abstract = "By examining witch tourism in Lancashire, England, this paper reveals the ideological role that dark histories fulfil for consumer culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, we explore thanatourism as a means for {\textquoteleft}post-historical{\textquoteright} subjects to conceive of wilder, pre-liberal worlds before capitalist realism extinguished all alternatives. Nevertheless, because of how history remains subsumed and consumed commercially, thanatourism works to support rather than subvert tacit endorsement of the neoliberal-capitalist present. Using Derrida and {\v Z}i{\v z}ek{\textquoteright}s theoretical articulations of {\textquoteleft}supplementarity{\textquoteright}, we show how thanatourism and its dark historical content is made to function as an {\textquoteleft}obscene supplement{\textquoteright} to the neoliberal-capitalist present through three processes: managed metempsychosis, governed grotesquerie, and curated kitschification. Authenticity within thanatourism remains illusory, but an illusion that nonetheless perpetuates capitalist realism. ",
author = "Sophie James and James Cronin and Anthony Patterson",
year = "2024",
month = feb,
day = "7",
language = "English",
journal = "Annals of Tourism Research",
issn = "0160-7383",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - “If You Like Your History Horrible”:

T2 - The Obscene Supplementarity of Thanatourism

AU - James, Sophie

AU - Cronin, James

AU - Patterson, Anthony

PY - 2024/2/7

Y1 - 2024/2/7

N2 - By examining witch tourism in Lancashire, England, this paper reveals the ideological role that dark histories fulfil for consumer culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, we explore thanatourism as a means for ‘post-historical’ subjects to conceive of wilder, pre-liberal worlds before capitalist realism extinguished all alternatives. Nevertheless, because of how history remains subsumed and consumed commercially, thanatourism works to support rather than subvert tacit endorsement of the neoliberal-capitalist present. Using Derrida and Žižek’s theoretical articulations of ‘supplementarity’, we show how thanatourism and its dark historical content is made to function as an ‘obscene supplement’ to the neoliberal-capitalist present through three processes: managed metempsychosis, governed grotesquerie, and curated kitschification. Authenticity within thanatourism remains illusory, but an illusion that nonetheless perpetuates capitalist realism.

AB - By examining witch tourism in Lancashire, England, this paper reveals the ideological role that dark histories fulfil for consumer culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, we explore thanatourism as a means for ‘post-historical’ subjects to conceive of wilder, pre-liberal worlds before capitalist realism extinguished all alternatives. Nevertheless, because of how history remains subsumed and consumed commercially, thanatourism works to support rather than subvert tacit endorsement of the neoliberal-capitalist present. Using Derrida and Žižek’s theoretical articulations of ‘supplementarity’, we show how thanatourism and its dark historical content is made to function as an ‘obscene supplement’ to the neoliberal-capitalist present through three processes: managed metempsychosis, governed grotesquerie, and curated kitschification. Authenticity within thanatourism remains illusory, but an illusion that nonetheless perpetuates capitalist realism.

M3 - Journal article

JO - Annals of Tourism Research

JF - Annals of Tourism Research

SN - 0160-7383

ER -