Heritage That Hurts: Tourists in the Memoryscapes of September 11

Ch. 1. Introduction -- ch. 2. Memory, space/place, tourism : paradigms and problems -- ch. 3. Unpacking "dark" tourism -- ch. 4. Consumption, meaning, commemoration -- ch. 5. Marking memorial spaces, making dialogic memoryscapes -- ch. 6. The material culture of violence and commemoration in public display -- ch. 7. The social life of things : material and visual culture of travel and personal historiography -- ch. 8. Conclusion: The contest of meaning and cultures of commemoration.

Memorial sites, sites of "dark tourism," are vernacular spaces that are continuously negotiated, constructed, and reconstructed into meaningful places. Using the locale of the 9/11 tragedy, Joy Sather-Wagstaff explores the constructive role played by tourists in understanding social, political, and emotional impacts of a violent event that has ramifications far beyond the local population. Through in-depth interviews, photographs, graffiti, even souvenirs, she compares the 9/11 memorial with other hurtful sites—the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Vietnam Veteran's Me

Memorial sites are vernacular spaces that are continuously negotiated, constructed, and reconstructed into meaningful places. Through in-depth interviews, photographs, and graffiti, the author compares the 9/11 memorial with other hurtful sites to show how tourists construct knowledge through performative activities