In a recent in-flight magazine, the kind that publishes glo...

Abstract: Former sites of punishment and incarceration have become a popular tourist experience as defunct prisons are converted into museums or heritage sites. Among the most prominent are Alcatraz in the United States, and Robben Island in South Africa. While some theorists might categorize such practices as “dark tourism, ” this paper argues for an analysis that accounts for the multiple shades of penal history marketing and interpretation. Drawing on policy documents, onsite observations, tourist surveys, and interviews with museum staff, the paper explores how multi-hued forms of interpretation have been produced, not only through shifting priorities of memory managers, but also the expectations of tourists and the agendas of external interest groups. Keywords: prison, dark tourism, heritage, Alcatraz, Robben Island. 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Résumé: Les teintes du tourisme sombre: Alcatraz et Robben Island. Les anciens sites de châtiment et d’incarcération sont devenus des lieux populaires de l’expérience touristique, et les prisons désaffectées deviennent des musées ou des sites patrimoniaux. Alcatraz aux Etats-Unis et Robben Island en Afrique du Sud figurent parmi les exemples les plus importants. Tandis que certains théoriciens pourraient classer ce genre de tourisme comm