Title: Cemetery gates: souvenir collection and archiving - leisure activities in dark places

Authors: Neil Robinson; Crispin Dale

Addresses: Salford Business School, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT, UK ' Faculty of Arts, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton WV1 1AD, UK

Abstract: Whilst legitimate leisure consumption has long been documented within the existing literature, a lesser researched area is that of deviant leisure pass times. Some individuals actively seek out and engage in deviant forms of leisure. An area of leisure consumption that is under researched is that of souvenir collection at sites that have witnessed great catastrophe and loss of life. This paper explores the manner by which visitors to dark sites go about corroborating their visit with the collection of souvenirs and their subsequent archiving. The empirical data relates to four interviews with individuals who have visited sites that are dark in nature, the data was collected using qualitative methods, primarily employing a laddering technique, a qualitative methodological tool, employing a semi-structured one on one interview style. In relation to souvenir collection, the research suggests differing motivations for visiting lighter and darker sites.

Keywords: dark tourism; deviant leisure; souvenirs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDCET.2018.090390

International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, 2018 Vol.2 No.3, pp.224 - 238

Received: 11 Jul 2017
Accepted: 01 Nov 2017
Published online: 13 Mar 2018 *

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