Essay: Volunteer tourism

Birrell defines voluntourism as being “more about the self-fulfilment of westerners than the needs of developing nations” (2010), often taken on by privileged young people with few participation requirements, other than flexibility. It is defined as unskilled, temporally shallow volunteering and is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry (Conran, 2011). Many voluntourism projects in the global south “involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of groups in society” (Wearing, 2001, p. 1), English Language teaching is a common project option (Guttentag, 2012) with the aim of prospering economic and social development. Often young people with no educator credentials undertake these projects with the initiative that they are promoting and assisting with development in impoverished communities. Phillipson states that the English Language is no longer just the concern of native English speakers, if not for the purpose of travel then for their own education and survival in the labour market (1992). However, the imposition of the English language could come at the expense of vernacular languages, previous educational format and other scholastic subjects. Teaching English as a foreign language can be seen as indoctrinating communities with the belief that they were inferior and were there to serve their colonisers (Mart, 2011). Mart states that in parts of Africa, the colonisers undermined the native people by depriving them of an education which would benefit their lives, and instead using education to serve their own needs and keep the colonised in their place. Pennycook (2013) also argues that teaching the English language across Europe could have stemmed from the British council with their aim to educate people on British culture and language in order to “counter the spread of European fascism” (p. 147).
Another criticism of volunteer tourism has become a ‘trend’. This allows travellers to holiday in unconventional ‘exotic’ or ‘ethnic’ areas not normally available to them. There are often detrimental effects for both volunteers and communities involved in volunteering projects like these. Organisations selling volunteer projects abroad are often the only ones to benefit from the high fees that they charge (Butcher and Smith, 2010), the communities and volunteers do not see this money. The average volunteer tourism package costs around 3000 dollars in the US for only a few weeks of travel, consequently the money would be used more beneficially if it was given straight to the communities, rather than a self-serving tourist who is only helpful for a fixed and short amount of time (Butcher and Smith, 2010). However, if the money were given directly to said communities, there would be no transparency to ensure that the money was being spent effectively and on what is needed. If the money is intercepted or received by the wrong people, similar to the corrupt organisations operating in Yemen (Transparency International, 2016), the money may never reach the people who need it most, at least with volunteer tourism, the aid is generally focused in the right areas. Heath states that the high cost of volunteer tourism packages often only attracts young people from wealthy backgrounds, this allows certain groups in society to reaffirm their power, pass on their perspective and beliefs to the receiving communities all whilst coming across as “altruistic and worldly” (2007, p. 437).
Butcher and Smith (2010) argue participation in voluntourism epitomises a shift from collective social action into individualised life politics – the way in which people increasingly define themselves through their purchases and confront the social realm as a market (Richey and Ponte, 2011). Within this, volunteering in another state is a lifestyle choice that allows a person to purchase adventurousness, generosity, and worldliness – traits that carry valuable symbolic capital in a time of middle-class enclosure (Heath, 2007). Voluntourism is a selfish practise often taken on to enhance an individual’s capital, for example, it allows volunteers to try credentials they could not possess otherwise and then claim these experiences as part of their professional portfolio (Simpson, 2004). To some extent, an individual’s future can be contingent upon practises like volunteering abroad. Acquiring experiences like these can be the difference between someone being offered a job or not. However, voluntourism is not entirely self-indulgent as volunteering abroad, over say a cruise, suggests contemporary consumer-based citizenship (Butcher and Smith, 2010).
Another criticism, previously mentioned, is that many volunteer tourists are unskilled, underprepared and unqualified for the jobs they endeavour on. Palacios (2010) found that volunteer tourists participating in teaching were hired based on their ability to speak English, rather their educator credentials. English language volunteers were left feeling that they needed more experience before taking on their jobs and encountered difficulties with both cultural differences and language barriers. Jakabiak (2012) explains that the aims of voluntary teaching in developing countries are often unclear, Pennycook (1998) furthers this by stating that the concepts of ‘English as development’ and ‘English for development’ are two distinctly different concepts and are frequently confused, especially when used to justify English language volunteering. As a result of unqualified teachers paired with the short-term placements of volunteers, the students are learning little-to-no English, and therefore this makes the whole process useless and a waste of valuable money (Coleman, 2011). Frequently, the undesirable effects of volunteer tourism can be traced back to the companies that sell the volunteering experience. Raymond and Hall (2008) add that the lack of training or guidance given to the volunteers is damaging as they are not monitored or managed well enough. A more constructive solution for the community would be to employ a capable English language teacher to live there full time, as paid workers are often undercut by tourists from the global north who wrongly think they are making a positive contribution to the lives of others (Raymond and Hall, 2008). Although, it is often difficult to encourage English teachers to move to small communities, and away from big cities, for a long period of time.
The English language being encouraged as a commodity is also detrimental to communities, Jordao argues that teaching the English language in the global south allows the “global north to impose its own ways of knowing” (Jordao, 2009, p. 98). However, Jakubiak (2012) argues that the English language is the sole tool to any and all possibilities, and if people are not financially stable, it is because they do not speak English. This can be seen as a symptom of post-colonialism and ignores other structural factors such as “volatile labour markets, insufficient employment opportunities, and minimal public safety nets” (Jakubiak, 2012, p. 444). English language teaching can also have an adverse effect on the students as Pinnock (2010) found that in some countries in the global south, the addition of the English language has caused student dropout rates to increase. Consequently, as many states in the global south add English language to their curricula formats, many students will inevitably be at a disadvantage and often unable to continue their education beyond primary school (Coleman, 2011). While many argue teaching the English language in the global south can be traced back to colonialism, Smith argues that while the prevalence of English language can also be credited to the United States success in the global economy. As China possess a threat to the United States economy, Mandarin is becoming a more popular language and, therefore, Smith’s argument is that the global south will adopt whichever language allows for further economic growth.
In conclusion, the common perspective amongst critics is that volunteer tourism is often seen as a positive contribution to aid communities in the global south, where the reality, they argue, is that voluntourism is the result of colonialism and often causes more harm than good. Moyo (2009) argues that aid entraps the global south in dangerous cycles of poverty and dependency on their former colonisers. The rise of volunteer tourism has also had mixed outcomes, on the one hand receiving communities are often happy to host volunteers and learn from them, but on the other, volunteers often reinforce negative. Volunteer tourists often take on projects for hedonism and self-gain over an actual desire to help developing communities to eradicate poverty. Overall, regardless of the negative impacts of voluntourism, it is currently seen by many as a way out of poverty, and a step in the direction of economic development.
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