Key Features:
- advances theoretical knowledge and understanding of dark tourism in the context of the cultural condition and social institutions within contemporary societies.
- develops a rigorous theoretical framework for the analysis of dark tourism in practice.
- identifies key issues associated with the management of dark sites, including ethical, political, authenticity and interpretation issues.
- explores the inherent issues, debates and challenges of the concept of dark tourism within the context of specific visitor sites / attractions / exhibitions.
Summary:
Over the last decade, the concept of dark tourism has attracted growing academic interest and media attention. Nevertheless, perspectives on and understanding of dark tourism remain varied and theoretically fragile whilst, to date, no single book has attempted to draw together the conceptual themes and debates surrounding dark tourism, to explore it within wider disciplinary contexts and to establish a more informed relationship between the theory and practice of dark tourism. This book meets the undoubted need for such a volume by providing a contemporary and comprehensive analysis of dark tourism.
Review:
In this perspective-broadening text, Sharpley and Stone (and their fellow observers of the prominence of sites of death and disaster) shine informed light on the rich but undersuspected connectivities of tourism. The dark and unquenchable business of thanatourism is colourfully and critically painted in arrestive shades of cultural, political, and public significance.
Keith Hollinshead, Professor of Public Culture,Tourism Studies, The Business School, University of Bedfordshire
Author Biography:
Richard Sharpley is Professor of Tourism and Development at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK. He has previously held positions at a number of other institutions, including the University of Northumbria (Reader in Tourism) and the University of Lincoln, where he was Professor of Tourism and Head of Department, Tourism and Recreation Management. His principal research interests are within the fields of tourism and development, island tourism, rural tourism and the sociology of tourism, and his books include Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues (2002), Tourism and Development in the Developing World (2008) and Tourism, Tourists and Society, 4th Edition (2008).
Philip R. Stone is a former Management Consultant within the tourism and hospitality sector, and is presently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He teaches tourism, hospitality and event management at undergraduate and postgraduate level. He is also Founder and Editor of The Dark Tourism Forum, the premier online dark tourism subject resource facility and global alliance of scholars and industry practitioners (see www.dark-tourism.org.uk ). His primary research interests revolve around dark tourism consumption and its relationship with contemporary society. He has published in a number of international academic journals, presented at a variety of international conferences, as well as acting as Media Consultant on dark tourism to both press and broadcast institutions across the world.
Readership Level:
Postgraduate, Research / Professional, Undergraduate
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