Voluntourism and Generation Y: Heart in the Right Place
Blogger Dallas has a good post about Generation Y and ‘Voluntourism’ at her blog.
Part of my thesis research looks at the increasing trend of “voluntourism” (a type of tourism that mixes volunteer work with sightseeing), and the generation that has both fed and gravitated towards the voluntourism industry, my generation.
I’ve seen a number of friends spend their summers on so-called ‘voluntourism’ projects, venturing to third world countries to plant trees, build schools or do scientific research. Universities do a lot to encourage them by generally offering class credits to those students ready to sign up. I’ve always seen it as a bit of a dubious practice, as these trips are generally only available to students willing to pony up a lot of money (often double what a typical semester of university would cost), it’s not difficult to find a conclusion that points to a big post-secondary cash cow.
The money thing
Back to Dallas, who also points to the huge cost of these trips:
Although volunteering may be about free work, it is certainly not free to volunteer. Voluntourism, what journalist Laura Fitzpatrick has called “Vacationing like Brangelina,” seems to be a privilege of the privileged.
I’ve generally been critical of the people I’ve known who’ve gone on these trips. Sure, some — particularly the more scientific, ecology-focused excursions — seem more than a little worthwhile, but I’ve never quite understood what good a second-year BA student brings to the third world.
I suspect when Dallas asks “Does our generation genuinely want to help, or do we just want pictures to make us look worldly on Facebook?” she’s hitting on some truth, cynical as it might seem.
But we’re still good
Not that this is particularly damning for our generation or anything. Extravagant and exotic trips to far-flung locales has been a staple of university students for a hundred years. What IS interesting, and Dallas points to this too, is that Gen Y has, in large numbers, traded in the spring break trip to Cancun for vacations that are, at least in theory, far more socially mindful.
Generation Y’s overwhelming devotion to social and environmental issues is undoubtedly one of our hallmark traits, but I think we’re more than a little lost on what to do with it. We tend to desire fast, active, personal solutions to the issues we’re passionate. And we’d like to lead them, too. In that light, voluntourism starts to make sense.
Voluntourism is an issue that reveals a lot about the changing attitudes of Generation Y. But still the cynical side of me still wonders if these voluntourism organizations aren’t exploiting Generation Y, valuing their money far more than their involvement.
Photo by thomaswanoff. Licensed under Creative Commons
This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Attitude, Education, Global. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Understanding Philanthropic Travel February 12th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I encourage travelers to discern the differences that Philanthropic Travel and Voluntourism offer and to decide which experience appeals to them. Whether you prefer to spend a morning or afternoon connecting with locals as the guest of an Exquisite Safaris Humanitarian Partner (offering a tax deductible donation) and the balance vacationing (Philanthropic Travel); or prefer spending a morning or afternoon vacationing and the balance serving as a volunteer (Voluntourism) -valuable benefits accrue to all who collaborate.” -David
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