Difficult heritage and digital media: ‘selfie culture’ and emotional practices at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Bareither, Christoph

doi:10.1080/13527258.2020.1768578

Cited by 23 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This code of ethics is articulated on Instagram in the form of digilantism, which is recognisable as a social movement (Gerbauda and Treré, 2015) which organises itself in opposition to Holocaust tourism as a performed identity. We also extend the conceptual analysis offered by Bareither, (2021) in noting the complex identity work that is provoked in response to Holocaust heritage selfies which are posted as a way of exploring and enacting emotional relationships to the past. We suggest that, far from being simplistic (2021) and sweeping, the narratives of condemnation, at least on Instagram are nuanced, and tend to emanate from the Anglosphere, targeting mainly young women and non-native English speakers, enunciating cultural capital to assert status.…”

Section: Theoretical and Management Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Holocaust heritage digilantism on Instagram

Wight

Stanley

2022

Tourism Recreation Research

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Discursive, netnographic and visual methods have been applied in the past to critique selfimages, providing insight into the behaviours of tourists. However, such studies have ignored reactions to self-image posts on social media, and particularly to those that are captured within sites of atrocity. Based on an analysis of Instagram, and drawing on Scheurich's grid of social regularities, this article critiques the practice of digilantism, coding the identity variables that shape punitive attitudes towards perceived morally transgressive behaviour at Holocaust tourism sites. We propose that the presence and richness of visitor interpretation shapes the extent to which self-images are consciously organised, and where respectful consumption is deemed important, behavioural expectations should be communicated to visitors. We suggest there is a need for greater recognition that visitor behaviours are challenging to enforce, particularly in the backdrop of a public culture that embraces self-images, and the practice of sharing on social media.

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Section: Theoretical and Management Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Holocaust heritage digilantism on Instagram

Wight

Stanley

2022

Tourism Recreation Research

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“…Such research combines observations and different types of participant interviews. Bareither (2020), for example, in his work on the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, conducts a digital ethnography by combining on-site and chat interviews with content analyses of Instagram and Facebook posts. This method closely resembles the one proposed in the present article.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Instagram Interview: Talking to People About Travel Experiences Across Online and Offline Spaces

Hugentobler

2022

MaC

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Studying visitors’ experiences with cultural sites has been complicated by the availability of internet-connected mobile devices. Simply observing visitors on site is no longer sufficient since they can interact with a site offline and online: before, during, and after their visit. Furthermore, cultural sites are as much sites of cultural heritage as they are sites of tourism. To study such complex experiences, new approaches to the study of human interactions with cultural sites must be developed; these methods must account for the fact that the offline and online realms can no longer be considered separate. In this article, I introduce the method of the Instagram interview as applied in an Instagram ethnography, contextualized by my project on visitor experiences of a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC, where I interviewed visitors after their visit. The Instagram interview helps study a dispersed population that engages, through Instagram posts, with one physical location and its narratives, allowing conclusions about visitor experiences of the site and the role of Instagram in this context. When constructing the Instagram interview in a manner that corresponds to platform conventions, it produces personal, in-depth narratives about the interviewee’s experiences. Conceptualizing the experience of a memorial as expanding beyond the space and time of the site visit, the Instagram interview is suitable for holistically studying visitors’ complex experiences: before, during, and after their visits, as it recognizes that offline and online interactions with the site are part of the same experience.

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“…In fact, one of the most controversial debates regarding the appropriateness of image practices at the memorial has been sparked through the ubiquity of ‘smiling selfies’ taken at the site. Since the question of whether such ‘happy pictures’ enact emotional indifference is too complex to be discussed here in detail (but see Bareither, 2020; see also Dalziel, 2016; Kansteiner, 2018), it must suffice here to say that portraits and also selfies can serve as tools to enact emotional experiences in relation to the memorial. Surprisingly, many selfies taken at the site show visitors who do not smile into the camera.…”

Section: Enacting the Emotional Affordances Of Heritage Sites Through Digital Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Capture the feeling: Memory practices in between the emotional affordances of heritage sites and digital media

Bareither

2021

Memory Studies

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This article develops the concept of emotional affordances, which is first used to describe the capacities of heritage sites to enable, prompt and restrict particular emotional experiences of their visitors. Secondly, the article asks how the emotional affordances of digital media, particularly those taking effect in digital photography and social media practices, allow visitors to mediate the emotional affordances of a particular heritage site. The argument builds on an ethnographic study of visitors’ digital image practices at the ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’ in Berlin and it demonstrates how visitors ‘capture the feeling’ of the memorial through such practices while also reshaping the experiences the place affords.

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Difficult heritage and digital media: ‘selfie culture’ and emotional practices at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Cited by 23 publications

References 30 publications

Holocaust heritage digilantism on Instagram

Holocaust heritage digilantism on Instagram

The Instagram Interview: Talking to People About Travel Experiences Across Online and Offline Spaces

Capture the feeling: Memory practices in between the emotional affordances of heritage sites and digital media

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