ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss participatory heritage approaches at places that can be associated with so-called dark heritage. I draw upon experience of teaching, as well as reflecting upon past and planned research trajectories. For some time, heritage specialists and other scholars have been aware of and debating the more problematic sides of heritage that is often nowadays referred to as “dark heritage”. This concept is taken to mean (usually) places (rather than intangible heritage or portable objects), associated with suffering, loss, and past atrocities. It can also refer to places with more nuanced, hidden, or forgotten pasts that have been revealed and revisited through fresh focus. These heritages sometimes take on state-sanctioned, international recognition as official heritage, even as UNESCO World Heritage. Others stay unrecognised, attracting only alternative and outsider interest. But can regular approaches for heritage participation be followed at a dark heritage site, or are special considerations needed? Research has suggested that there can be social benefits of engaging communities with controversial heritage. This chapter therefore explores this possibility, as well as shedding light on the often amplified ethical issues that go alongside this, especially in relation to incorporating participatory approaches into research at dark heritage sites.
