Emotional Overload! A Dialogic Autoethnography of Scholar-Participant-Consumer Reactions to the Marketing of Thanatourism

Abstract

The terms “thanatourism” and “dark tourism” relate to visiting places of human tragedy, which are increasingly developed as tourist destinations. There is a need to trouble thanatouristic assumptions through sharing and discussing lived experiences. These challenge the simplistic mechanistic marketing and conventional research practices of thanatourism. This dialogic autoethnographic study responds to this need, addressing thanatourism from the subjective and emotional perspectives of “insider” scholar-participant-consumers. Two interactive dialogic stories are presented by the lead and second authors, with the fourth providing a theoretically informed response. In the final section, the third author, an experienced autoethnographer and outsider to the thanatouristic topic and context, interrogates the lead author on concepts and issues emerging in the autoethnographic dialogue. Through engaging with this study, the reader is offered a multilayered, polysemic, emotionally provocative account of the ethical interface between thanatourism, consumer behaviour and marketing practices, and an exemplar model for future autoethnographic work.