Cultural Exchange during English-Language Voluntourism (EVT) in Lima, Peru: A Postcolonial Analysis

ABSTRACT

In recent years, English-language voluntourism (EVT) has grown in popularity, with many conceptualizing it as a form of cultural exchange between English speaking volunteers and members of a non-English speaking host community. This article explores relationships between and within volunteers and host groups of an EVT program in Lima, Peru. Using a postcolonial analytical framework, we explore how bringing together voluntourists and members of host communities from different socioeconomic backgrounds can reinforce inequality and difference between groups, even when framed as a “cultural exchange.” Presenting the idea of “worlds within worlds,” we argue that EVT, and the diffusion of English as a foreign “world” language, underscore an unequal and postcolonial dynamic between actors and the “worlds” from which they originate, both internationally and intra-nationally. In this way, EVT as cultural exchange creates a microcosm for maintaining wider systemic structures and inequalities.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural exchange
• English as an international language
• English language teaching
• English-language voluntourism
• Peru
• postcolonial

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Johanna Thomas-Maude

Johanna Thomas-Maude is a PhD candidate in International Development at Massey University. Her general research interests include language, culture, education, mobility, health, and postcolonialism. She has a background in teaching English as a Foreign Language and healthcare consulting.

Sharon McLennan

Dr. Sharon McLennan is Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at Massey University. Her research explores new and alternative actors in international development and global health, and the interface between development, citizenship, and globalization. These themes are reflected in her current and past research in Latin America, the Pacific and New Zealand.

Vicky Walters

Dr. Vicky Walters is Lecturer in Sociology at Massey University in Auckland, New Zealand. She is a multi-disciplinary researcher with interests that coalesce around themes in governance, democracy, neoliberalism, and the politics of social exclusion. Her research addresses a range of social inequality issues including housing, food, water, and sanitation.