Gendered and racialized experiences and subjectivities in volunteer tourism

Abstract

Volunteer tourism is a feminized sector of international travel, comprised of a four to one ratio of women to men. Using feminist concepts and drawing on data from in-depth interviews with former volunteer tourists, this paper uses a gender lens to explore how volunteer tourists’ gendered and racialized subjectivities shape and are shaped by their experiences while volunteering in the Global South with development-focused projects. We argue that: (1) the spaces, activities, and interactions of volunteer tourism are gendered and racialized and influenced by understandings and experiences of care and fear; (2) experiencing these gendered and racialized geographies of care and fear while abroad can lead volunteers to recognize and reflect on their subjectivities in new ways; and (3) these opportunities for self-reflection often result in reinforced stereotyping and privileging of certain bodies and subjectivities, specifically as they relate to Global North-South power dynamics. In conclusion, we suggest that volunteer tourism should be reimagined and practiced to focus on solidarity and support rather than relationships centered on care and hindered by fear.

Keywords:

• Care
• fear
• gender
• race
• subjectivities
• volunteer tourism

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding this research and to the editor and reviewers for their valuable feedback. We would also like to thank the individuals who participated in this study for sharing their stories.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest reported.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Amy Kipp

Amy Kipp is a Research Associate at the University of Waterloo. Her past research has focused on representations of international development issues in the Global North through ethical consumption as well as the gendered dimensions of the volunteer tourism sector. Her current research explores how individuals and communities in the Global South are impacted by social interventions in the context of migration, climate change, and food insecurity.

Roberta Hawkins

Roberta Hawkins is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. Her research examines the ways in which people, places, and natures in the Global North and Global South are connected (or not) through understandings and practices of development. She pays particular attention to ethical consumption campaigns and their discursive and material connections to the environment and international development.

Noella J. Gray

Noella Gray is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. Her work examines the politics of environmental conservation and governance across scales, from international policy arenas to community-based projects. At a local level, she has studied community-based marine protected areas and volunteer tourism initiatives in Belize and Costa Rica.