Prison: Cultural Memory and Dark Tourisma
Presented by Dr Jacqueline Wilson, School of Education, University of Ballarat
Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 1.30-2.30pm in Room B902
Jacqueline Wilson is a lecturer in Sociology and Cultural Studies in the School of Education at the University of Ballarat. She is the author of Prison: Dark Tourism and Cultural Memory (Peter Lang: 2008). Her research interests include education, public history, graffiti and Australian cultural and national identity. She is currently researching the role of Dark Tourism within the Australian school curriculum along with Ian Clarke and Mary Hollick in the School of Business.
Abstract
Historical prisons and other former centres of incarceration are common as tourist sites and museums throughout the world. The Bloody Tower (London), Alcatraz (San Francisco), Auschwitz (Poland), Solovki Gulag (Russia), Changi POW Museum (Singapore) and many others stand as examples of what has been termed ‘Dark Tourism’. In this regard Australia is no exception, but Australia has the unique distinction of itself having been founded as a jail, with convict transportees comprising the bulk of its original colonial population. It is thus arguable that for certain tourist visitors, the experience of touring Australian prisons constitutes in some degree an affirmation of national identity.
The author has researched dozens of former prisons throughout rural and urban Australia, assessing and analysing them both as Dark Tourism sites and as entities of public history. She interviewed a variety of people at each prison including curators, tour guides, former prison staff members, tourists and other stakeholders. She also took several hundred photographs of the prisons’ architectural features and, especially, interior surfaces where inmate graffiti was evident. She will present a selection of these images and discuss various aspects of her research and its ramifications for tourism and Australian national identity.
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