Volunteer Tourism

The lifestyle politics of international development
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-138-08053-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)

Buch, Englisch, 162 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 240 g

Reihe: Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility

Just a generation ago the notion that holidays should be invested with ethical and political significance would have sounded odd. Today it is part of the lifestyle political landscape.

Volunteer tourism is indicative of the growth of lifestyle strategies intended to exhibit care and responsibility towards others less fortunate, strategies aligned closely with developing one’s ethical identity and sense of global responsibility. It sits alongside telethons, pay-per-click, Fair Trade and ethical consumption generally as a way to “make a difference”.

Volunteer tourism involves a personal mission to address the political question of development. It draws upon the private virtues of care and responsibility and disavows political narratives beyond this. Critics argue that this leaves the volunteers as unwitting carriers of damaging neoliberal or postcolonial assumptions, whilst advocates see it as offering creative and practical ways to build a new ethical politics. By contrast, this volume analyses volunteer tourism as indicative of a retreat from public politics into the realm of private experience, and as an expression of diminished political and moral agency.

This thought provoking book draws on development, political and sociological theory and is essential reading for students, researchers and academics interested in the phenomenon of volunteer tourism and the politics of lifestyle that it represents.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Butcher, Jim

Smith, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Sport | Tourismus | Freizeit Tourismus & Reise Reise & Urlaub: Führer, Landkarten, Pläne
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Entwicklungsstudien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introducing the lifestyle politics of volunteer tourism 2. From Peace Corps to Volunteer Holidays 3. Volunteer tourism in development perspective 4. The Personal and the Political in Volunteer Tourism 5. The lifestyle politics of volunteer tourism 6. Volunteer tourism and global citizenship 7. The Volunteers: Postcolonial, Neoliberal or Diminished Subjects? 8. Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Jim Butcher teaches at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. His research interests lie in the sociology and politics of tourism.
Peter Smith teaches at St Mary's University, UK. His main areas of interest lie in the sociology of volunteer and ecotourism.