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Table of Contents Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Thanatourism and the commodification of war tourism space in ex-Yugoslavia Author(s) Johnston, Anthony Publication Date 2011-09-20 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/2288 Downloaded 2021-09-28T00:11:42Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Thanatourism and the commodification of war tourism space in ex-Yugoslavia Anthony Patrick Johnston Supervised by Professor Ulf Strohmayer School of Geography & Archaeology Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Galway May 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………… I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………… III LIST OF IMAGES……………………………………………………….. IV LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………… VI PROLOGUE…………………………………………………………….. VII Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Research background……………………………………… 2 1.2 Thanatourism in geography…………………….…………. 7 1.3 Why study thanatourism in ex-Yugoslavia……………….. 10 1.4 A background to thanatourism in ex-Yugoslavia.………… 17 1.5 Research objectives…………………………….………….. 19 1.6 Outline of forthcoming chapters……………….…………... 21 Chapter 2: Contextualising Thanatourism 23 2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………. 24 2.2 Postmodernism in the geography of tourism ………………. 28 2.3 Secularisation and new moral spaces……………………….. 48 2.4 Thanatopsis and a sociology of death….…………..……….. 51 2.5 Orientalism………………………………………………….. 71 2.6 Conclusion…………………………………………………… 75 Chapter 3: Situating Thanatourism 80 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………….... 81 3.2 New horizons in tourism & niche tourism………….………… 84 3.3 Typologies of thanatourism…………………………………… 87 3.4 Recent explorations of thanatourism…………………………. 95 3.5 Commodification of death ……………………………………. 100 3.6 Guides, entrepreneurs and mediating heritage………………... 105 3.7 Motivations and experiences………………………………….. 109 3.8 Inveraray Jail Case Study……………………………………... 111 3.9 Conclusion…………………………………………………….. 116 Chapter 4: Methodology 118 4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………... 119 4.2 Past methodologies…………………………………………... 119 4.2.1 – Dunkley 119 4.2.2 – Causevic 125 4.2.3 – Yuill 129 4.2.4 – Kazarlaska 130 4.2.5 – Wight 131 4.2.6 - Others 136 4.3 Embedded tourism research & positionality…………………. 134 4.4 Proposed methodologies……………………………………... 138 4.4.1 Site selection 139 4.4.2 Ethnography and semi-structured interviews 141 4.4.3 Blog methodologies 148 4.4.4 Visual archives in tourism research 152 4.5 Limitations of research………………………………………. 154 4.6 Summary……………….……………………………………. 157 Chapter 5: The Commodification Of Thanatourism Spaces 158 5.1 Introduction…………………………………………………….. 159 5.2 Company profiles………………………………………….……. 160 5.3 The tours, the guides & mediating thanatourism ………………. 168 5.4 Maps & signage………………………………………………… 190 5.5 Memorialisation………………………………………………… 193 5.6 Dissonant heritage……………………………………………… 198 5.7 Relationship with tourist board and the advertising of dark tourism………………………………………………………..... 203 5.8 Film & media imagery……………..…………………………... 209 5.9 Future of dark tourism…………………………..……………… 219 5.10 Conclusion……………………………………………………… 227 Chapter 6: The Thanatourism Experience 229 6.1 Introduction…………………………………………….…….… 230 6.2 Tourist demographics………………………………….…….… 233 6.3 Pre-trip knowledge…………………………………………..… 237 6.4 Thanagazing: ethnographic and travel blog findings..….……… 241 6.5 Unusual requests & shades of dark tourism…………………… 260 6.6 Representation…………………………………………………. 263 6.7 Conclusion……………………………………………………... 270 Chapter 7: Outlook 272 7.1 Introduction…………………………………………………….. 273 7.2 Contextualising thanatourism…………………………….…...... 274 7.3 Theoretical contribution to thanatourism………………………. 277 7.4 Future research potential and conclusion………………………. 286 REFERENCES Bibliography……………………………………………………. 291 APPENDICES 315 I Interview with Zijad Jusufovic (Mission Impossible guide)…… 316 II Interview with Maro Carevic (Dubrovnik Walking Tours)……. 337 III Interview with Zrinka Sesto (Danubium Tours, Vukovar)…….. 340 IV Interview with Haris Pamuk (Haris Hostel, Sarajevo)……….. 345 V Interview with Tourism Association of Bosnia and Sarajevo…. 357 VI Interview with Tim Clancy (Green Visions)…………………… 369 VII Interview with Tarik (Sarajevo Tours) ………………………… 376 VIII Interview with Hasan Hasanovic (Potočari Memorial Centre)… 382 IX Advertising leaflet ‗Mission Impossible Tour‘……………….... 390 X Advertising leaflet for Dubrovnik Walking Tours…..…………. 391 XI Ovcara Memorial Centre information leaflet…………………... 392 XII Wannsee Haus information leaflet……………………………... 393 XIII Auschwitz tour (from Krakow) advertising leaflet…………….. 394 XIV Map of the former Yugoslavia………….……………………… 395 XV Map of Sarajevo………………………………………………... 396 XVI War map of Sarajevo (produced by Zijad Jusufovic)………….. 397 XVII Olympic siege map of Sarajevo………………………………... 398 XVIII War map of Sarajevo (FAMA) ………………………………… 399 Abstract Humanity has a long standing fascination with death and disaster. Although dying has been partially sequestered from many western societies, death itself is the one true anthropological constant, encountered by every society through architecture, literature, language, institutions and many other human practices. Our relationships with death have very unique spatial characteristics, brought to life for this thesis by a phenomenon known as ‗thanatourism‘. Thanatourism is defined as travel to a site primarily or partially motivated by a desire to encounter death or disaster (Seaton, 1996) and, as a niche tourism practice, it has flourished in recent decades. This growth has variously been attributed to the search for authenticity in tourism, the dedifferentiation of leisure, secularisation, the sequestration of dying from society, and theories of postmodern leisure consumption. This thesis seeks to further strengthen and develop the frameworks used to conceptualise thanatourism by exploring the commodification of war space throughout ex-Yugoslavia. The 1990s Yugoslav War was the largest conflict in Europe post World War Two. The conflict left deep scars on the landscape; casualties numbered approximately 100,000, mass civilian murder and rape occurred and thousands of shells destroyed the major towns, cities and cultural artefacts. Leaders were indicted for genocide and the mass media kept the conflict at the forefront of Western attention for many years. Following the conflict, Yugoslavia disintegrated into seven Republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) and the countries were faced with grieving their dead and rebuilding damaged institutions. Although tourists quickly returned to the war damaged regions, many of the returning tourists seek to encounter the sites associated with the conflict. These battlefields, shell pocked buildings and cemeteries quickly evolved from war scars to tourist attractions and this thesis seeks to interrogate the process by which entrepreneurs, policy makers and tourists facilitate the commodification of death and disaster. The research adopted a critical perspective on the existing methodologies used in thanatourism research and proposes new methods to quantify the i thanatourism experience. Autonomous travel images and representation, embodied in this thesis by travel blogs, offer a potential avenue of exploration into the tourist experience at sites of death and disaster. Primary fieldwork utilised a variety of methods including interviews with tour guides in Vukovar and Dubrovnik, Croatia and Sarajevo and Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was complemented by an ethnographic study of the war tours at these locations and further positioned against a mixed methods analysis of 237 travel blogs from tourists who visited Sarajevo. The thesis argues that a grand narrative of war, such as the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1995, can quickly become commodified for tourists who have no prior geographic, religious or demographic reasons for consuming such a tragedy. The thesis tests the various theoretical frameworks used to situate thanatourism, including the discourses of postmodernism, secularisation and Orientalism; resolving that the framework to conceptualise thanatourism is developing and it is a truly multi-disciplinary study with unique spatial characteristics. ii Acknowledgements This has been an exceptionally enjoyable thesis to research and write over the last few years. However, without great patience and assistance from many people the thesis would never have gotten off the ground, let alone reach completion. Thank you to all those involved in dark tourism research who have emailed me articles, offered feedback and discussed research approachs, in particular Dr. Phil Stone and Prof Richard Sharpley. Many thanks to Steve, Gareth, Dave, Dao, Kathy, Wes and all the other postgrads in the Geography Department for their advice and support over the years. Many thanks to Dr. Mary Cawley, Dr. Marie Mahon and the staff of the Geography Department for their regular input over the years. Your dedication and interest ranged from emailing me papers, to feedback sessions to methodology advice. It is very much appreciated. A very big thank you to my family and to Marta for all your patience and understanding. Most importantly I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Ulf Strohmayer. Without Ulf‘s guidance I doubt that I would have even tackled this topic anywhere else, despite my passion for the subject. Thank you Ulf for the regular and insightful meetings which covered everything
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