Dark Tourism: A Comparative Perspective

Drayton Hall "big house"

Drayton Hall “big house”

 

I wrote this piece for the web site of the Drayton Hall plantation outside of Charleston. It grew out of a session with descendants of both the enslaved people and slave-owners who lived there. I touch on parallels between presenting and interpreting Jewish history and heritage in post-Holocaust Europe and presenting and interpreting African American history and heritage in the Lowcountry.

 

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies, College of Charleston

April 28, 2015

More than 20 years ago I wrote a book called Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today. The title referred to the mezuzah

Charleston, Charleston

streets-wm2I arrived last week in Charleston, South Carolina to begin a semester teaching as the Arnold Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston.

It will be an adventure, as I have never taught a course before…. I’ve taught my first two classes and so far, it seems to be going well: engaged students (a mix of undergraduates and community auditors), interesting discussion.

Meanwhile, I’ve been exploring Charleston — where I have never been before. So far, I have not been off the Peninsula, or old town; but I’ve spent hours walking around the streets. And, of course, stopping off in some of the excellent restaurants….today I had my first “she-crab soup” and “shrimp and grits.”

As it happens, I love grits. I often bring them back from the states to Europe with with me. Oddly enough, the first time I remember eating grits was not in the south — but on the French Line ocean liner the SS Libert