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36 Volunteer tourism – ‘doing it for the ’gram’: Cambodia, Southeast Asia

  • Orlando Woods
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50 Dark Destinations
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch 50 Dark Destinations

Abstract

In recent years, volunteer tourism – or ‘voluntourism’ – has become an increasingly popular way for relatively privileged individuals to access and ‘give back’ to those deemed to be less privileged. While the motivations for such practices are often benign, so too is there a tendency for the distinctions between ‘volunteering’ and ‘tourism’ to become blurred. With this blurring, the humanitarian logics upon which volunteerism is assumedly based can become commodified in ways that close down the potential to effect change (Sin, 2009). Exacerbating these closures is the mediatory role of digital photography in documenting voluntourist experiences, and representing the humanitarian self (and disadvantaged others) to dispersed networks of followers via social media. These digital mediations can be seen to ‘complicat[e] simple models of subject and object, representation and reality, image and process’ (Crang, 1997: 366) as voluntourists are invariably implicated in the new representational politics of ‘doing it for the ‘gram’ (Woods and Shee, 2021a; 2021b). By this, I refer to obfuscatory role of digital media (an expansive term that captures practices of digital photography and the circulation of images via social media) in both motivating engagement with humanitarian projects and structuring the encounters that voluntourists have with the people and places they are meant to be serving. Indeed, given the assertion that 40% of British millennials ‘choose their travel destination based on the Instagrammability of the locations’ (Wearing et al. 2018: 503), the potential for digital media to reify, and possibly exacerbate the development differential that voluntourism is designed – in theory at least – to help overcome, becomes more apparent.

Abstract

In recent years, volunteer tourism – or ‘voluntourism’ – has become an increasingly popular way for relatively privileged individuals to access and ‘give back’ to those deemed to be less privileged. While the motivations for such practices are often benign, so too is there a tendency for the distinctions between ‘volunteering’ and ‘tourism’ to become blurred. With this blurring, the humanitarian logics upon which volunteerism is assumedly based can become commodified in ways that close down the potential to effect change (Sin, 2009). Exacerbating these closures is the mediatory role of digital photography in documenting voluntourist experiences, and representing the humanitarian self (and disadvantaged others) to dispersed networks of followers via social media. These digital mediations can be seen to ‘complicat[e] simple models of subject and object, representation and reality, image and process’ (Crang, 1997: 366) as voluntourists are invariably implicated in the new representational politics of ‘doing it for the ‘gram’ (Woods and Shee, 2021a; 2021b). By this, I refer to obfuscatory role of digital media (an expansive term that captures practices of digital photography and the circulation of images via social media) in both motivating engagement with humanitarian projects and structuring the encounters that voluntourists have with the people and places they are meant to be serving. Indeed, given the assertion that 40% of British millennials ‘choose their travel destination based on the Instagrammability of the locations’ (Wearing et al. 2018: 503), the potential for digital media to reify, and possibly exacerbate the development differential that voluntourism is designed – in theory at least – to help overcome, becomes more apparent.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures x
  4. About the editors xi
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Cocaine Bear: Fun Mall, Lexington, Kentucky, USA 9
  8. Whitney Plantation: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 14
  9. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Washington, DC, USA 24
  10. From Newgate Prison to Tyburn Tree: the Old Bailey, London, UK 29
  11. Jack the Ripper tour: Whitechapel, London, UK 35
  12. The Alcatraz East Crime Museum: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA 41
  13. The Museum of Death: Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA 50
  14. The Royal Armouries Museum: Leeds, UK 55
  15. The Black Dahlia tour: Los Angeles, California, USA 59
  16. The ‘Execution Dock’: Wapping, East London, UK 65
  17. Auschwitz: Oświęcim, Poland 71
  18. Jeju 4:3 memorial: Jeju Island, South Korea 80
  19. Museum Dr. Guislain: Ghent, Belgium 88
  20. Karosta Prison Hotel: Liepāja, Latvia 92
  21. The Clink prison-based restaurant: Brixton, London, UK 98
  22. The 9/11 memorial and museum: New York, New York, USA 104
  23. The Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes: Phnom Penh, Cambodia 107
  24. Choeung Ek killing field: Phnom Penh, Cambodia 116
  25. Blue lights in the Red Light District: Amsterdam, the Netherlands 122
  26. Trophy hunting: sub-Saharan Africa 128
  27. ‘The ugly side to the beautiful game’: Qatar 135
  28. Burning Man festival: Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA 140
  29. Magaluf: Majorca 147
  30. ‘Holiday Hooters’: Hong Kong 153
  31. Scilla: Calabria, Italy 159
  32. The Kray twins tours: London, UK 165
  33. Backpacking in the outback: Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia 171
  34. The hippie trail: Nepal, South Asia 177
  35. The Museum of Confiscated Art: Brest, Belarus 182
  36. Steroid holidays: Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt 187
  37. The souks: Tunis, Tunisia 194
  38. Mezhyhirya Residence Museum: Novi Petrivtsi, Ukraine 200
  39. The great British seaside: various locations, UK 207
  40. The Biggie mural: Brooklyn, New York, USA 213
  41. The Rebus guided tour: Edinburgh, UK 217
  42. Volunteer tourism – ‘doing it for the ’gram’: Cambodia, Southeast Asia 223
  43. The staycation: home 230
  44. The ‘suicide forest’: Aokigahara, Japan 235
  45. Pitcairn Island: Pitcairn Islands, Pacific Ocean 245
  46. Favela tours: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 251
  47. Skid Row walking tours: Los Angeles, California, USA 258
  48. The 2019–20 anti-extradition protests: Hong Kong 264
  49. The Maldives: Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean 271
  50. Death Road: La Paz to Coroico, Bolivia 276
  51. Vulture brains and muthi markets: Johannesburg, South Africa 282
  52. Dark tourism, ecocide and Alpine ski resorts: the Alps, Europe 288
  53. Boho Zone: Middlesbrough, UK 293
  54. One Hyde Park: London, UK 299
  55. Amazon warehouse tours: Rugeley, UK or virtual tour 305
  56. Disney World: Orlando, Florida, USA 315
  57. Conclusion 322
  58. References 325
  59. Index 394
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781447362210-040

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures x
  4. About the editors xi
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. Introduction 1
  7. Cocaine Bear: Fun Mall, Lexington, Kentucky, USA 9
  8. Whitney Plantation: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 14
  9. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Washington, DC, USA 24
  10. From Newgate Prison to Tyburn Tree: the Old Bailey, London, UK 29
  11. Jack the Ripper tour: Whitechapel, London, UK 35
  12. The Alcatraz East Crime Museum: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA 41
  13. The Museum of Death: Hollywood, Los Angeles, USA 50
  14. The Royal Armouries Museum: Leeds, UK 55
  15. The Black Dahlia tour: Los Angeles, California, USA 59
  16. The ‘Execution Dock’: Wapping, East London, UK 65
  17. Auschwitz: Oświęcim, Poland 71
  18. Jeju 4:3 memorial: Jeju Island, South Korea 80
  19. Museum Dr. Guislain: Ghent, Belgium 88
  20. Karosta Prison Hotel: Liepāja, Latvia 92
  21. The Clink prison-based restaurant: Brixton, London, UK 98
  22. The 9/11 memorial and museum: New York, New York, USA 104
  23. The Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crimes: Phnom Penh, Cambodia 107
  24. Choeung Ek killing field: Phnom Penh, Cambodia 116
  25. Blue lights in the Red Light District: Amsterdam, the Netherlands 122
  26. Trophy hunting: sub-Saharan Africa 128
  27. ‘The ugly side to the beautiful game’: Qatar 135
  28. Burning Man festival: Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA 140
  29. Magaluf: Majorca 147
  30. ‘Holiday Hooters’: Hong Kong 153
  31. Scilla: Calabria, Italy 159
  32. The Kray twins tours: London, UK 165
  33. Backpacking in the outback: Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia 171
  34. The hippie trail: Nepal, South Asia 177
  35. The Museum of Confiscated Art: Brest, Belarus 182
  36. Steroid holidays: Sharm El Sheikh, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt 187
  37. The souks: Tunis, Tunisia 194
  38. Mezhyhirya Residence Museum: Novi Petrivtsi, Ukraine 200
  39. The great British seaside: various locations, UK 207
  40. The Biggie mural: Brooklyn, New York, USA 213
  41. The Rebus guided tour: Edinburgh, UK 217
  42. Volunteer tourism – ‘doing it for the ’gram’: Cambodia, Southeast Asia 223
  43. The staycation: home 230
  44. The ‘suicide forest’: Aokigahara, Japan 235
  45. Pitcairn Island: Pitcairn Islands, Pacific Ocean 245
  46. Favela tours: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 251
  47. Skid Row walking tours: Los Angeles, California, USA 258
  48. The 2019–20 anti-extradition protests: Hong Kong 264
  49. The Maldives: Republic of Maldives, Indian Ocean 271
  50. Death Road: La Paz to Coroico, Bolivia 276
  51. Vulture brains and muthi markets: Johannesburg, South Africa 282
  52. Dark tourism, ecocide and Alpine ski resorts: the Alps, Europe 288
  53. Boho Zone: Middlesbrough, UK 293
  54. One Hyde Park: London, UK 299
  55. Amazon warehouse tours: Rugeley, UK or virtual tour 305
  56. Disney World: Orlando, Florida, USA 315
  57. Conclusion 322
  58. References 325
  59. Index 394
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Heruntergeladen am 14.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.56687/9781447362210-040/html
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