Negotiating cultural trauma in tourism

Abstract

This study responses to call for an evidentiary frame that incorporates the contested views of cultural trauma in dark tourism sites. Central to this contestation is a failure to break down the victim-perpetrator binary that particularly struggles for truth-seeking transnationally and trans-generationally. This requires a new and critical heritage interpretation, addressing traumatic historical lessons and reaching a reconciliation for future integration and inclusivity. With employment of semi-structure interviews and participant observations, this study of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders illustrates how dark tourism and counter-monuments play a critical role in transforming massacre trauma into commemorative practices. Designing and building new tourism space and artworks as counter-monuments proves to be one significant encoding practice that negotiates more mundane and interactive peacebuilding and reconciliation. Such negotiation contributes to a more meaningful and holistic understanding of cultural trauma, heritage interpretation, memory and identity. Its implications can inspire future research to explore tourism’s transformative potential for remembering, forgetting and healing.