Living in the wake of rural Irish troubles

: Building an institution for sustainable peace tourism through emotive out-of-place peace tourism

Abstract

Abstract
During the thirty-year period (1968–1998) known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, 3500 people died and thousands more suffered physical disabilities and psychological trauma. Belfast, among other conflict cities, helped inspire the term ‘dark tourism’ in the 1980s. The country continues to be in conflict but is officially in a period of peace. Northern Ireland has been the theme for much peace and reconciliation research, but literature to date concentrates on polarised urban discourses rather than rural representation. Toward expanding peace through tourism literatures, this research explores how the term emotive out-of-place peace tourism can be used as a methodology to affect emotional transculturation in a unique rural Northern Ireland visitor experience. Bringing domestic tourists from Catholic and Protestant communities into face-to-face contact through a liminal participative ‘out-of-place’ visitor experience, the researcher choreographed and performed a series of ‘Troubles’ events: a guided night walk through checkpoints, an IRA Wake, a UDR Funeral, and a Mixed-Marriage Reception. Contributing to the debate as to whether tourism is a ‘peacekeeper’ versus ‘peacemaker’, the research demonstrates that an in situ liminal, emotive out-of-place peace tourism experience, may generate sustainable tolerance, respect, trust, sympathy, and empathy towards others through transculturation in post-conflict Northern Ireland. This research has advanced peace through tourism literature in the direction of ‘emotive out-of-place peace tourism’ and has used bridging concepts to present the ‘emotive out-of-place peace tourism bridge’ which could be modified to offer opportunities for transculturation in other arenas of conflict.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2028.

Date of Award	Jul 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Tristan Sturm (Supervisor) & Merav Amir (Supervisor)