Dark tourism consumption in Mexico City

A New Perspective of the Thanatological Experience

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6015604
AutoresMark Speakman (0000-0003-0492-9573, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, autor correspondente), Mark J Speakman (0000-0002-6742-6394, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume26
Fascículo2
Páginas152-168
Data de publicação2019-09-17
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Tourism Analysis Revista de Análisis Turístico (JTA (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2254-0644 • E-ISSN: 1885-2564
EditoraAECIT (PUBLISHER • ES)
DOI10.1108/jta-09-2018-0028
OpenAlexW2974221133
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas16

Purpose The Euro-centric nature of dark tourism research is limiting the perspective and restricting the scope of contemporary theory. Hence, this paper aims to explore how dark tourism consumption differs in a society apart from the Anglo/Eurosphere. This is done by testing Stone and Sharpley’s (2008) thanatological framework in Mexico, a country whose residents are renown for having a unique perspective on death, to assess whether Mexican dark tourism consumers undergo a similar, or different, thanatological experience to that proposed in the framework. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative approach in the form of a case study. The opinions of Mexican dark tourism consumers were gained by using the technique of semi-structured interviewing in four separate dark tourism sites within Mexico City, with coding serving as the form of analysis. Findings The findings show that due to the non-existence of an absent/present death paradox in Mexican society, the research participants experienced a thanatological process that contrasts with those from Western societies, which indicates that the thanatological framework is unsuitable in the context of Mexican dark tourism. At the same time, the study contests the common perception that Mexicans have a jovial familiarity with death, and demonstrates that in this case the thanatological process confirmed an acceptance of death, rather than any kind of intimacy. Originality/value The research is valuable in that it is a response to recent calls for research in geographical locations not previously considered in a dark tourism/thanatology context

Art · Business · Consumption (sociology · Context (archaeology · Dark tourism · Geography · Interview · Originality · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Tourism · Value (mathematics · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior · Marketing