Between commemoration and commodification. Ukrainian public discourses on the touristification of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone
Abstract as pdf
Corresponding Author:
Alexander Tymczuk
Telemark Research Institute Norway
alexander.tymczuk@tmforsk.no
Author(s):
Chornobyl is a polysemous site, or in the words of Philip Stone, a 'heterotopia', i.e. a ritual space that exists outside of time, and a space of contradiction and duality. As such, Chornobyl is variously connected to danger, degeneration, suffering and death, as well as the manifestation of the risk society and the collapse of a superpower. At the same time, Chornobyl is also related to regeneration, resilience and a new beginning.
The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone has gradually been opened up to visitors the last two decades, culminating with the plans of president Zelensky to develop Chornobyl into a positive brand for Ukraine and site of extensive tourism. An important part of the plan is to create a 'green corridor' to Chornobyl, in the sense of eradicating corruption in the Chornobyl tourist industry. Thus, Chornobyl seems to be in the process of being transformed from a national trauma to a laboratory for building a new Ukraine.
Scholars on dark or disaster tourism have recently turned their gaze upon local perceptions and attitudes towards tourism to disaster sites. In line with this, I will in the proposed paper analyse how Ukrainian news articles portray the touristification of Chornobyl.
Between commemoration and dark tourism: Remembering disasters in post-disaster contexts