Raising the spectre of race : phantoming and phenomenologies of whiteness in dark tourism
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, Institute for
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Smalley, Keira
issued: 2022-01-10T22:05:40Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This thesis introduces race into the academic conversation around dark tourism, where it has hitherto been overlooked or ignored. It highlights the extent to which phenomenologies of whiteness (following Ahmed, 2007) are supported and facilitated at racialised sites of dark tourism, through methods of ‘phantoming’ (enhancing or falsifying emplaced resonances of memory). Through two case studies I identify two distinct, though related, techniques of site management that accommodate the white body into racialised space - ‘narrative becoming’, and ‘narrative containment’. First, I lay out academic foundations for my fields of study through a discussion of dark tourism literature, highlighting key debates that relate to race - authenticity, morality, commercialisation, ‘otherness’ - but never quite name it. I also discuss psychoanalytical theory on the spectral as an interruption on the present, before outlining my own definition of the phantom as the physical resonances of place-memory. In my case study centred on Prison Escape game in The Netherlands, I theorize ‘narrative becoming’ as a process through which the white tourist self is offered a temporary experience of stereotyped Black criminality. I analyse the branding and marketing of the site to reveal how the prison is abstracted from geographical space, allowing it to become a playground of alternative desire for the white-lensed tourist. In my second case study, the reading of ghosts becomes much more literal. The Myrtles plantation in Louisiana, USA is touted as one of America’s “most haunted homes”. Here I read the site contrapunctually in order to highlight the various ways in which issues of race, white supremacy and anti-Black violence are omitted from the story told through the site’s ghosts. I frame this silencing as ‘narrative containment’, showing how the site’s managers control the narrative in ways that allow them to retain a public image of pure-intentioned, even honourable, heritage preservation. I…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/80625
note: Raising the Spectre of Race: Phantoming andPhenomenologies of Whiteness in Dark TourismbyKeira SmalleyB.A. Hons., University of Warwick, 2013A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THEDEGREE OFMASTER OF ARTSinTHE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES(GENDER, RACE, SEXUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Vancouver)December 2021© Keira Smalley, 2021The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduateand Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled:Raising the Spectre of Race: Phantoming and Phenomenologies of Whiteness in Dark Tourismsubmitted by Keira Smalley in partial fulfillment of the requirements forthe degreeof Master of Artsin Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social JusticeExamining Committee:Dr John Paul Catungal, Assistant Professor, Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBCSupervisorDr Janice Stewart, Associate Dean, Senior Instructor, Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, UBCSupervisory Committee MemberiiAbstractThis thesis introduces race into the academic conversation around dark tourism, where it hashitherto been overlooked or ignored. It highlights the extent to which phenomenologies ofwhiteness (following Ahmed, 2007) are supported and facilitated at racialised sites of darktourism, through methods of ‘phantoming’ (enhancing or falsifying emplaced resonances ofmemory). Through two case studies I identify two distinct, though related, techniques of sitemanagement that accommodate the white body into racialised space - ‘narrative becoming’,and ‘narrative containment’.First, I lay out academic foundations for my fields of study through a discussion of darktourism literature, highlighting key debates that relate to race - authenticity, morality,commercialisation, ‘otherness’ - but never quite name it. I also discuss psychoanalytical theoryon the spectral as an interruption on the present, before outlining my own definition of thephantom a…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2022-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0406241
language: eng
degree discipline: Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Catungal, John Paul
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/80625