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“If you like your history horrible”: The obscene supplementarity of thanatourism

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  • James, Sophie
  • Cronin, James
  • Patterson, Anthony

Abstract

By examining witch tourism in Lancashire, England, this paper reveals the ideological role that dark histories fulfil for consumer culture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, we explore thanatourism as a means for ‘post-historical’ subjects to conceive of wilder, pre-liberal worlds before capitalist realism extinguished all alternatives. Nevertheless, because of how history remains subsumed and consumed commercially, thanatourism works to support rather than subvert tacit endorsement of the neoliberal-capitalist present. Using Derrida and Žižek's theoretical articulations of ‘supplementarity’, we show how thanatourism and its dark historical content is made to function as an ‘obscene supplement’ to the neoliberal-capitalist present through three processes: managed metempsychosis, governed grotesquerie, and curated kitschification. Authenticity within thanatourism remains illusory, but an illusion that nonetheless perpetuates capitalist realism.

Suggested Citation

  • James, Sophie & Cronin, James & Patterson, Anthony, 2024. "“If you like your history horrible”: The obscene supplementarity of thanatourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:anture:v:106:y:2024:i:c:s0160738324000264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2024.103749
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Fitchett, James & Lindberg, Frank & Martin, Diane M., 2021. "Accumulation by symbolic dispossession: Tourism development in advanced capitalism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Goulding, Christina & Pressey, Andrew, 2023. "A palimpsestic analysis of atmospheres at dark tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    6. Stone, Philip R. & Morton, Catriona, 2022. "Portrayal of the female dead in dark tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    7. Light, Duncan, 2017. "Progress in dark tourism and thanatourism research: An uneasy relationship with heritage tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 275-301.
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