ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the emotional responses of visitors to traumatic, violent and dissonant histories. Using extensive visitor interviews at institutions marking the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain in 2007 this chapter explores how visitors experience, block and utilize emotions in their engagement with exhibitions and displays. The ability of institutions to provide ‘learning experiences’ for visitors in the context of dissonant histories is questioned in this assessment, as visitors use emotional engagement to affirm or reinforce normalized and sanctioned concepts of the past.