Page 19 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 19
1.1 Background and Rationale for the Study
contributes to the popularisation of sites; this could result in over-
commercialisation of dark tourism sites and these sites becoming a
spectacle’ (p. 73);
• ‘the media creates mass hysteria around a dark tourism site and
tourists attach themselves to these sites, whether they have a real
connection to them or not’ (p. 73).
The above-mentioned assumptions about the media, the Istrian past
and present social reality suggest that the unified media-constructed so-
cial reality in relation to memorial and dark tourism sites in Istria is not
easy to determine, especially because of multi-ethnicity/culturalism and
the dynamic past. It can be additionally pointed out that social/political
activities as well as academic research on the dynamic history of the 20th
century in the Upper Adriatic (Pirjevec et al., 2012, Kacin-Wohinz, 2001)
are always risky, subject to media interest, criticism and (emotional) reac-
tions from one or the other side, but obviously always relevant and topical.
At the same time, this also shows how the heterogeneous Istrian mem-
ory is a fragile topic and a weak element of Istrian coexistence, tolerance,
democracy and peace, which should foster further academic research.
Before engaging in the research purpose and objectives, let us take a
quick look at the rapidly changing tourism industry. The modern era is
marked by hypermodern consumerism, or post-Fordism, where products
are tailored in accordance with tourists’ expectations. The so-called homo
turisticus is looking for an experiential dimension based on numerous
possible tourist services (Šuran, 2016, p. 69), which is completely in line
with the thematic tourism theory (Douglas et al., 2001; Rabotić, 2014);
this is aimed at increasing consumption. Homo turisticus, as the successor
of homo viator, thus becomes homo consumens (Šuran, 2016, pp. 80, 139).
In the context of this study, they look for interesting/exciting memorial
sites with an (extreme) traumatic background that shapes contemporary
societies only in a certain geographical area (e.g. the Soča/Isonzo Valley
with the legacy of the Soča/Isonzo Front, Eastern Slavonia with Vuko-
var (conflict in the 1990s), Istrian memorial sites related to fascism and
wwi i) or wider, on the international level (e.g. wwi legacy of the West-
ern Front, the holocaust sites in Europe, the legacy of D-day landings and
the Battle of Normandy, of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, or of
Japan’s hostile military activities in Asia).¹³ However, as they do not nec-
¹³ Not to mention numerous cases of deliberately (forgotten) traumatic consequences of
imperialism and colonialism of many European powers, or the white race in Africa, Aus-
tralia and the Americas. These can also be discussed in the damnatio memoriae context.
19
contributes to the popularisation of sites; this could result in over-
commercialisation of dark tourism sites and these sites becoming a
spectacle’ (p. 73);
• ‘the media creates mass hysteria around a dark tourism site and
tourists attach themselves to these sites, whether they have a real
connection to them or not’ (p. 73).
The above-mentioned assumptions about the media, the Istrian past
and present social reality suggest that the unified media-constructed so-
cial reality in relation to memorial and dark tourism sites in Istria is not
easy to determine, especially because of multi-ethnicity/culturalism and
the dynamic past. It can be additionally pointed out that social/political
activities as well as academic research on the dynamic history of the 20th
century in the Upper Adriatic (Pirjevec et al., 2012, Kacin-Wohinz, 2001)
are always risky, subject to media interest, criticism and (emotional) reac-
tions from one or the other side, but obviously always relevant and topical.
At the same time, this also shows how the heterogeneous Istrian mem-
ory is a fragile topic and a weak element of Istrian coexistence, tolerance,
democracy and peace, which should foster further academic research.
Before engaging in the research purpose and objectives, let us take a
quick look at the rapidly changing tourism industry. The modern era is
marked by hypermodern consumerism, or post-Fordism, where products
are tailored in accordance with tourists’ expectations. The so-called homo
turisticus is looking for an experiential dimension based on numerous
possible tourist services (Šuran, 2016, p. 69), which is completely in line
with the thematic tourism theory (Douglas et al., 2001; Rabotić, 2014);
this is aimed at increasing consumption. Homo turisticus, as the successor
of homo viator, thus becomes homo consumens (Šuran, 2016, pp. 80, 139).
In the context of this study, they look for interesting/exciting memorial
sites with an (extreme) traumatic background that shapes contemporary
societies only in a certain geographical area (e.g. the Soča/Isonzo Valley
with the legacy of the Soča/Isonzo Front, Eastern Slavonia with Vuko-
var (conflict in the 1990s), Istrian memorial sites related to fascism and
wwi i) or wider, on the international level (e.g. wwi legacy of the West-
ern Front, the holocaust sites in Europe, the legacy of D-day landings and
the Battle of Normandy, of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, or of
Japan’s hostile military activities in Asia).¹³ However, as they do not nec-
¹³ Not to mention numerous cases of deliberately (forgotten) traumatic consequences of
imperialism and colonialism of many European powers, or the white race in Africa, Aus-
tralia and the Americas. These can also be discussed in the damnatio memoriae context.
19
