Heritage tourism is ubiquitous in European cities, yet tours shaping national memory, identity, and belonging often marginalise slavery and colonial histories. This presentation examines tourism practices that (re)activate these memories “hiding in plain sight.” It introduces embodied absence of the past and frictions of space to frame tourism’s transformative memory work across time-space. Drawing on a Dutch Research Council project (2021–2024) and an ERC Starting Grant (2025–2030) with fieldwork across Ghana–Suriname–Netherlands, Angola–Brazil–Portugal, and Namibia–Brazil–Germany, it traces how tourism produces liminal sites where plural memories are reactivated, contested, and negotiated. Beyond commodification, tourism performs memory work that makes colonial pasts visible in urban space.
