Abstract
The perennial obsession with dark tourism sites, like concentration camps or battlefields, has evolved to include not only these sites of temporally distant violence but also those of visible violence acting upon living bodies. This new trend towards conflict tourism compels tourists to seek modern, tangible human suffering. In the West Bank, conflict tourism is aided by the proliferation of new media and has become a phenomenon used by Palestinians to invite foreign tourists to actively produce media that constructs or relays particular arguments about the nature of the occupation. Drawing from media studies and tourism studies, this paper analyzes how foreign tourists to refugee camps use social media to engage with the traumascape of the refugee camp and represent the Palestine-Israel conflict. In what ways are tourists used to receive, produce, or disseminate narratives about military occupation, or national identity in conflict zones? How does the widespread availability of digital media that can be produced by tourists themselves change the way that tourism functions as a form of political communication? By asking whether the variable use of media in the camp by Palestinians and tourists is exploitation or advocacy, the research asks whether new forms of media activity by tourists constitute activism or normalization of the conflict. Noting how tourists and their media production help shape representation and perceptions of the Palestinian/Israeli situation contributes to the understanding of this complex and enduring conflict, as well as show the serious effects of tourism and new media on local Palestinian communities.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies
KEYWORDS
Dark Tourism, Palestine, Refugee Camp, Media
