Children picturing suffering in dark tourism: the use of photo-elicitation method

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dark tourism subject matter can be powerfully visual. This study adopts the photo-elicitation method to examine children’s perspectives of the exhibitions at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Thematic analysis of children’s photographic narratives reveals that children use their photographs to visualize, describe and interpret what and who caused the suffering. Applying the social identity theory framework, the findings suggest that children identify with their ingroup and differentiate themselves from the outgroup in their photographic narratives. In interpreting the experience of suffering, children de-individualize the suffering bodies, creating a singular Vietnamese experience of suffering and collective identity. The use of photo-elicitation with children is valuable for generating new insights into children’s interpretive and emotional experiences, which have important theoretical and methodological implications for future research in dark tourism.