PhD defence S.R. (Siri) Driessen

War and tourism often seem at odds with each other. Still, iconic war sites such as the Nazi German extermination camp Auschwitz receive millions of visitors a year, and this number is growing. Why are visitors drawn to such locations? In my dissertation I research four specific groups of ‘war tourists’: Dutch army members who undertake battlefield tours to sites associated with the First and Second World War; Dutch veterans who undertake return trips to their former area of deployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, young Europeans who engage in volunteer work on former war sites during their summer holidays, and participants of the yearly peace march to Srebrenica. By means of in-depth interviews and ethnographic field work, I analyze the motivations, experiences, and reflections of these four different groups of visitors.

Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall of the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.