From mixed emotional experience to spiritual meaning: learning in dark tourism places

AbstractWhile emotionally laden, sites of death could also be places of spiritual transformation and sacredness. In recent years, the ‘emotional’ turn in geography and tourism studies has called for more research on co-activation and the impact of mixed emotions at these places. In order to address the research gap in how negative/ambivalent emotional experiences could be negotiated, transformed, and constructed into place meaning, we report the findings from 460 questionnaires completed by visitors to one of the darkest tourism places—the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre. The obtained data were used to build a structural equation model, which aimed to examine the subtle relationship between mixed emotional experience (e.g. fear, shock, depression, appreciation) and the spiritual meaning of dark places. Findings corroborated that certain negative emotional experiences also have the potential to broaden-and-build; however, they were not able to directly broaden one’s thoughts and add meanin...