انگیزش های گردشگری تاریک : شبیه سازی، سرایت عاطفی و مقایسه های توپوگرافی

This paper examines dark tourism consumption motivations. Using a qualitative and interpretative mixed-method approach, this study traces the dark tourism motivations related to “blackpackers” and fans of the musical performance art known as black metal. Steeped in anti-Christian motifs and themes, with a history of past violence, black metal is a long-existing and still burgeoning art form that is growing in popularity throughout Europe and the United States. Through examination that involved participant observation, nethnography and content analysis, simulation, coupled with the emotional contagion were found to be key motivating aspects of this dark tourism related to black metal. Additionally, it was found, that similar to media tourists, many black metal fans seek tourism activity to reconcile comparisons between imaged landscapes and topographical reality. In addition to discussing specific aspects of the blackpacking phenomenon, larger theoretical implications related to the greater realm of dark tourism motivations are discussed.

Church burnings, suicide, national socialism, Satanism, and murder. This combination of dark events is what gripped northern Europe, especially Norway, in the 1990s, where a series of violent events shocked a nation that, at the time, was not ordinarily accustomed to living in fear. Much of the violence has been directly attributed to the musical and theatric art form known as black metal (Beste, 2008; Moynihan & Soderlind, 2003). Black metal songs and performances often focus on satanic and/or anti-Christian motifs, with much of it extolling the virtues of a neo-pagan renaissance or drawing on the grandeur of Norse mythology (Bouge, 2004; Hagen, 2011). The music itself is disharmonic and songs are generally constructed around fast tremolo picking and related signatures that seek to create a profoundly dark, cold and foreboding atmosphere. This paper explores tourist motivations related to the growing consumption of black metal and its related events. It is believed that some select black metal artists and followers were responsible for over fifty church burnings throughout Scandinavia (mostly in Norway) in the mid 1990s to express disdain over modern Scandinavian society (Monk, 2011). The black metal subculture is also infamous for murder, such as those committed by Varg Vikernes of the musical project known as Burzum, and Bard “Faust” Eithun, formerly of the Norwegian band, Emperor (Kahn-Harris, 2007). Black metal itself is predicated on a prodigiously strong disdain for Christianity. Even with its history of violence, black metal is Norway's number one musical export (Visit Norway, 2011) and home to a variety of festivals and tours that draw black metal fans worldwide. Black metal festivals, usually found in Oslo, Trondheim and other large cities, are even featured in Norway's official travel guide (Visit Norway, 2011), and in 2011, Norway's foreign ministry began training diplomats in black metal culture as a response to inquiries they get at foreign embassies (Boyd, 2011). Black metal festivals and concerts, which today are definitely not defined by violence, and are far removed from the 1990s' activities, have sprung up in a variety of locations over the past twenty years with large scale events held in Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Norway, Latin America and the United States. Black metal concerts can be found in “underground” style clubs, larger capacity clubs and even large arenas and festival grounds. Inferno, an annual event in both Norway and Switzerland, is the epicenter of the black metal festival scene and draws thousands of fans from across the world for multi-day concerts at multiple venues. Fans of black metal come from a variety of demographics in terms of age – from teenagers newly embracing the genre, to those over the age of 50 who have been listening to metal for decades. Listeners are generally male, but certainly not exclusively (Wallach, Berger, & Greene, 2011). In recent years, formal tours of black metal related sites have quickly gained momentum as the music genre has grown in worldwide popularity (Weinstein, 2011). As this global interest continues to blossom, Norway, where the modern scene began, has experienced a surge of tourists known as “blackpackers,” a term given to black metal fans who engage in tourism activity (see Metal Review, 2011), who tour not only to experience live music and festival atmospheres, but to visit sites where violence associated with black metal artists and fans has occurred. These sites might be record shops, such as the former Helvete Records in Oslo, where early purveyors of black metal both resided and held court, or local pubs and apartment complexes where fans socialized and gathered. Similar blackpacking experiences are now also occurring in Switzerland and other parts of Europe where black metal is growing in popularity (Hagen, 2011; Kahn-Harris, 2007). In the past few years, black metal, largely fueled by crossover acts with wider-ranging appeals, such as Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and Saytricon, has witnessed both a surge in fandom and festival related revenue. While its associated violence has most certainly subsided, the scene's popularity has spurred sellout crowds and a wealth of tourist activity. Black metal festivals are now found not only in Scandinavia, but France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Black metal bands, concerts and interest have also gained momentum in South America. More localized black metal festivals (featuring bands with more limited global appeal) have regularly appeared in many Eastern European countries. Business locations, however, largely take a backseat to tourism destinations where violent acts associated with black metal have occurred. Most of the violence occurred in the 1990s in Norway (Moynihan & Soderlind, 2003). These locations include Fantoft Stave church in Bergen, Norway, which was built in 1150 (Moynihan & Soderlind, 2003). The church was burned to the ground on June 6, 1992, allegedly by Varg Vikernes as an act of retaliation against Christianity for placing the church on “sacred pagan ground.” (Campion, 2005) Adding to the mystique of Fantoft Stave, in 1993, a photo of the burned remains of the church appeared on Vikernes's black metal classic, Aske (Norwegian for “Ashes”) record sleeve. The first 1000 copies of the record were packaged with a cigarette lighter. This paper explores tourist motivations related to the consumption of a particular art form that is expressly and specifically associated with paganism, Satanism, blasphemy and historic violence and violent imagery. The goal of this research is not to pass judgment on black metal fandom, its fans, and its associated tourism, or on the content of the music and art, but rather to explore the interpretation, from the consumption side of the equation, related to this dark tourism activity. In order to understand the psychological motivations of blackpackers and their desire to tour sites associated with death, violence and destruction, a mixed method approach was utilized, whereby blackpacking and black metal festival tourism was examined using three specific, established techniques: participant observation, netnography and content analysis. Over the course of the analysis, specific thematic elements related to the consumption of dark tourism sites emerged, for some (not all) black metal tourists. We found simulation, coupled with the emotional contagion as a key factor related to tourist motivations. Additionally, the data reveal tourists' needs to resolve the differences between perceptions of dark tourism sites, spurred largely by the media, and the actual sites themselves – resulting in the motivated desire to engage in the tourism activity. The following section details the relevant literature related to consumption side dark tourism. This is followed by detail about the methodology utilized, and a discussion of the resultant themes from the studies. This paper concludes with specific insights surrounding demand driven dark tourism.

This paper looked to examine dark tourism motivations from the consumption perspective. Within the context of black metal tourism, from our study, it was found that simulation, linked with the emotional contagion were key motivating aspects of dark tourism. Further, our data indicated that, similar to media tourists, a great number of black metal tourists attempt to reconcile comparisons between imagined landscapes and topographical reality. This study of black metal related dark tourism will hopefully spark an interest in further delving into dark tourism consumption motivations. Specifically, it is hoped that other studies related to simulation and emotion, coupled with landscape comparison are spurred by the research and thoughts presented here. While the prospect of examining humans consuming tourism experiences for the sake of emotional stimulation and affect that many would perceive as negative; this foreboding, dark and cold atmosphere should not undermine the need of this type of exploration. Compared to many types of tourism studies, dark tourism examination is still in its early stages and will require exploration in a variety of contexts in order to begin to yield theory that is confidently generalizable. Much remains to be explored, and scholars looking to build theory in this realm must be unafraid to delve into both gruesome and depressive field research that may turn away many. Netnography, as one of our methods, has significant limitations. As mentioned in Podoshen and Hunt (2011), discourse among black metallers occurs in a computer-mediated environment and this means that some people may utilize a greater level of control over their self-image as compared to a non-mediated environment. Further, anonymity is easy in the virtual world, making it difficult to understand context and demographic information about those who perpetuate the comments on message boards. Taken to the extreme, there is the potential for misrepresentation. With this in mind, making generalizations about groups using online communities for data can be limited. We attempted to minimize this limitation by utilizing two additional methods in our study. Additionally, dark tourism study should continue to embrace the underlying psychological motivations behind tourism demand. Much of this psychologically based theory is housed outside of the boundaries of traditional tourism scholarship. A great deal of the work on simulation theory and the emotional contagion stems from psychology and film/media studies, with some integration from marketing and consumer studies. In this respect, tourism scholars must be willing to examine tourism phenomena from a blended and/or bridged ontological perspective. Blending and bridging knowledge, literature and theory from a variety of realms – in our case – media studies and psychology, with tourism theory, allows for both a richer context of phenomological exploration as well as an enhanced ability to construct new theoretical dimensions. Here, tourism study that examines subculture should look beyond the particular variables that relate to the cultural context of the tourism phenomena and delve into psychological motivations that may exist in tandem with the cultural. Dark tourism scholarship would benefit from more work that seeks novel constructs, insights and new theory about tourism motivations that generalize beyond subcultural context and specific heritage-related factors. The study of dark tourism motivations is still in its early stages. This particular study is but one example in a vast arena. It is urged that future researchers examine dark tourism motivations in other venues, and in different parts of the world. Black metal is a subculture firmly entrenched in Europe, parts of the United States and Latin America, therefore generalizations made about dark tourism motivations related to black metal may not hold forth in different parts of the world such as Asia or Africa. Multiple comparative case studies of similar behavior and motivation should be enacted in order to add to the ideas and interpretations provided here. Additionally, while this study undertook multiple methods, each of the methods utilized here is qualitative and interpretative in nature. Scholars may wish to use other types of methods to study dark tourism and its related behaviors in a greater context, both inside and outside of the interpretative realm that will eventually lead to greater generalizability and insight inside the burgeoning dark tourism realm.