Paper short abstract:

This is a critical analysis of the relatively new expression or compound ‘suicide tourism’ using news media followed by case studies.

Paper long abstract:

This is a critical analysis of the relatively new expression or compound 'suicide tourism'. It is a category or label in the press, both academic and media, and so warrants critical discourse examination. It links the terminal practice of suicide taken by the few to a leisure pursuit enjoyed by the many. Both involve the individual and are culturally-embedded activities. First this paper looks at the coinage of this expression before examining it in relation to the two respective domains - leisure and death, largely from an anthropological perspective but also including medical legal legislation. The paper then goes on to present case study material from striking natural sites as well as clinical medical locations: Beachy Head and Dignitas, Zurich, in particular, are contrasting locations where death—by-suicide is controversially 'enacted'. There is need for a comment on anthropological ethics and the positioning and involvement of the researcher in such research.