Educating the (Dark) Masses: Dark Tourism and Sensemaking

Abstract

Dark tourism’s potential capacity to inform and reflect contemporary interpretive and pedagogic theory and praxis is unique and substantial. Themes and events of historical, political and social significance, and the emotional, sociocultural and psychological responses they may elicit, offer distinct opportunities to explore and affect learning, critical thinking and meaning-making processes in contemporary touristic contexts. Yet, the place and role of dark tourism behaviours and site management in educative and sensemaking contexts is neither fully represented, nor theorised, within current dark tourism conceptual frameworks. In this chapter, I review the distinctions, dimensions and environments of dark tourism alongside its conceptual connections with allied fields. Subsequently, I explore some emotional, sensory and relational aspects of dark tourism and their relevance to learning and interpretive processes and theories, including and especially experiential learning. Within this chapter I identify interpretive approaches, considerations and challenges that are particularly relevant to dark tourism themes and locations, and call for further research and discourse to underpin future conceptualisations and practices of dark tourism and sensemaking.