Living in the wake of rural Irish troubles: building an institution for sustainable peace tourism through emotive out-of-place peace tourism

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.<br><br><i>Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2028</i>.<br>