Instructor Spotlight: Kristin Gallas

Why are people drawn to sites of death, violence, and suffering?

People are drawn to “dark tourism” for many reasons. Some go to honor and remember the dead, some to bear witness to the tragedy and absorb the power of the place. Some are motivated to confront their own mortality and relationship to death, while others exploit sites of death and suffering for sensationalistic purposes. There is a tridactic relationship between the content (dead people/tragedy), the curators of the site (how the story is told), and the visitor. Each plays a role in how we experience sites of suffering.

What sites of dark tourism are you most drawn to?

My research and work focus on sites shaped by slavery—including plantations, urban homes, industrial sites, churches, and more. Sites of enslavement are not only places of trauma but also places to celebrate the survivance and resilience of the human spirit of those who were enslaved.

What is a fact about dark tourism that would surprise people?

Dark tourism sites are all around us! On the first day of class, my students generated a list of over 50 different types of sites and specific places of dark tourism.  They surprised themselves with what they were able to think of: battlefields, cemeteries, natural and man-made disasters, concentration and internment camps, crypts, memorials, and more.

Kristin Gallas is an award-winning museum educator and public historian. She has worked with sites around the country, including Mount Vernon, multiple National Park Service units, the Old North Church, and the USS Constitution Museum. She earned a MAT degree in Museum Education at George Washington University.