Dear FEASTies,

Please forward this CFP to anyone who might be interested.  This is my
first time seeing the word "Thanatourism"; it seems an intriguing
topic.

For questions please contact Brigitte Sion at [log in to unmask]

Best,
Sophia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
CFP: Conference on Dark/Death/Thanatourism (New York, April 22-23, 2010)

Thanatourism, also known as dark or death tourism, refers to the
exhibition, promotion and attraction to sites of violent death, such
as former prisons or concentration camps, sites of murders, natural
disasters and terror attacks, burial grounds and memorials. These
sites are part of the recreational landscape of tourism, which,
through the genre of thanatourism, has managed to incorporate this
particular form of “negative sightseeing” into what is otherwise an
industry dedicated to pleasure, time out of time, and escape, as well
as to edification, spiritual experience, and personal transformation.

Rather than judge or critique such phenomena as “Holocaust tourism,”
pilgrimage to Ground Zero, or travels to New Orleans immediately after
Katrina, this conference will raise and discuss the tensions that
arise when juxtaposing sites of memory and tourism destinations. How
does a state promote a site of tourism that criticizes the state
itself? (Germany, Argentina). How does a state redefine its national
identity after years of dictatorship, and what is the role of
thanatourism in defining this new identity? (South Africa, Rwanda).
What kind of visitors/tourists/pilgrims come to sites of memory, and
how do they use and share the space? What are the tensions within a
site of memory that is also a public artwork, often by a celebrity
architect? What are the multiple functions of a memorial, and does
commemoration remain the main purpose? How are sites of memory
marketed by travel agents, guidebooks, and publicity material?

These are some of the issues that the conference will examine from a
transnational and interdisciplinary perspective. The goal is not to
compare the politics of memory or the architecture of memorials in
different countries, but rather to identify fundamental issues and
investigate the ways in which various sites of memory address them (or
not).

Until recently, thanatourism has been studied mostly from a management
and hospitality perspective. The conference aims to enrich the
scholarship on the topic from a variety of methods and disciplines.
Related topics include public policy, memory politics, trauma, art,
human behavior, commerce, reception, media, and rituals, to name a
few. We hope to cover prisons, concentration camps, “houses of
terror,” sites of terror attacks and natural disasters, from Argentina
to Hungary, New Zealand to New Orleans, Cambodia to Ground Zero.

The conference will take place at New York University on Thursday,
April 22 and Friday, April 23, 2009 and will include a keynote speaker
in the field.

The conference sponsor is “Transitions,” an academic partnership
between New York University and the Centre National de la Recherche
Scientifique (CNRS, France). The conference organizer is Brigitte
Sion, Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in Religious Studies, New
York University.

Unfortunately, no funding for travel or accommodation is available.

Please send a 250-word abstract, a 50-word narrative biography, and
contact information in one single word or pdf document by January 28,
2010 to [log in to unmask]
Acceptance letters will be sent by February 10.