Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India
Dark tourism is a popular niche of tourism that allows tourists to come into close proximity with death, atrocity, and the macabre, and therefore has the potential to be an emotional and even traumatic encounter for tourists. While this context has inspired tourism researchers to investigate dark to...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
2018
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48581/ |
| _version_ | 1848797799152353280 |
|---|---|
| author | Sharma, Nitasha Rickly, Jillian M. |
| author_facet | Sharma, Nitasha Rickly, Jillian M. |
| author_sort | Sharma, Nitasha |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Dark tourism is a popular niche of tourism that allows tourists to come into close proximity with death, atrocity, and the macabre, and therefore has the potential to be an emotional and even traumatic encounter for tourists. While this context has inspired tourism researchers to investigate dark tourists’ motivations, as well as the marketing and representation of dark tourism sites, we have yet to attend to its implications for the researcher. This paper analyzes the emotional experiences and aftermath of fieldwork at the cremation grounds of Varanasi, India, which involved working closely with tourists, Doms, and Aghoris by focusing on the relations of reflexivity, positionality, and emotionality. As a result, we suggest a number of reflexive and self-care practices to be put into place so as to attend to the researchers’ emotional well-being in the fieldwork process. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48581 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:37Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-485812020-05-04T19:53:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48581/ Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India Sharma, Nitasha Rickly, Jillian M. Dark tourism is a popular niche of tourism that allows tourists to come into close proximity with death, atrocity, and the macabre, and therefore has the potential to be an emotional and even traumatic encounter for tourists. While this context has inspired tourism researchers to investigate dark tourists’ motivations, as well as the marketing and representation of dark tourism sites, we have yet to attend to its implications for the researcher. This paper analyzes the emotional experiences and aftermath of fieldwork at the cremation grounds of Varanasi, India, which involved working closely with tourists, Doms, and Aghoris by focusing on the relations of reflexivity, positionality, and emotionality. As a result, we suggest a number of reflexive and self-care practices to be put into place so as to attend to the researchers’ emotional well-being in the fieldwork process. Taylor & Francis 2018 Article PeerReviewed Sharma, Nitasha and Rickly, Jillian M. (2018) Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 18 (1). pp. 41-57. ISSN 1531-3239 Self-care; Reflexivity; Positionality; Emotionality; Dark tourism; Varanasi https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15313220.2017.1403801 doi:10.1080/15313220.2017.1403801 doi:10.1080/15313220.2017.1403801 |
| spellingShingle | Self-care; Reflexivity; Positionality; Emotionality; Dark tourism; Varanasi Sharma, Nitasha Rickly, Jillian M. Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title | Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title_full | Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title_fullStr | Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title_short | Self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in Varanasi, India |
| title_sort | self-care for the researcher: dark tourism in varanasi, india |
| topic | Self-care; Reflexivity; Positionality; Emotionality; Dark tourism; Varanasi |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48581/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48581/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48581/ |