Heritage That Hurts

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 Memorial, and others-to show how tourists construct and disperse knowledge through performative activities, which make painful places salient and meaningful both individually and collectively.