Toussaint, Stéphanie
[UCL]
Decrop, Alain
[FUNDP]
This video offers an interpretative analysis of the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, a major symbolic tourist site of Paris, in a postmodern consumption perspective. More precisely, the study focuses on the sacred and profane aspects of consumption. Of course, places such as cemeteries are sacred by nature, but in the Père-Lachaise, the profane effervescence of tourists and curious people has invaded the cemetery. Based on interviews and observations, the video describes the visitors’ profile and shows that they are motivated by touristic, spiritual, and relational drives, and even by fanatic contemplation. The findings also show how the sacred and profane dimensions of consumption become entangled through gestures, rituals and other behaviors that (re-)give the cemetery sacred meanings and contribute to make a “heterotopia” of it, that is a place out of time and space.


Bibliographic reference |
Toussaint, Stéphanie ; Decrop, Alain. "The Père-Lachaise Cemetery: Between Touristic Experience and Heterotopic Consumption".5th Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference (Vilamoura, du 02/10/2013 au 04/10/2013). |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/152939 |