Abstract

The purpose of my thesis is to analyze the way voluntourism is seen as a way to ‘give back’; however, this is complicated by the ways this yearning is configured through channels of Western knowledge production and the strategic construction of tourism imaginaries (Salazar, 2011) .  My research asks how voluntourism organizations are able to reproduce global imaginaries under Western imperialism and simultaneously investigates the manner in which voluntourists then imagine their contributions to people or place among the extensive existing lot of voluntourism iconography which I analyze through Mostafanezhad’s theory of the humanitarian gaze (2013).  I employ semi-structured interviews with past voluntourists as well as media content analysis of two voluntourism organizations based in the United States to try and get a sense of what aspirations and motivate voluntourists to engage in the phenomenon.  Informed by theories of imperialist nostalgia and imperialist amnesia my research further argues why performances of humanitarian aid serve the intrapersonal growth, fetishistic disavowal, and ultimately the absolution of white guilt all for the voluntourist.  This exemplifies another way in which the prioritization of Western empire prevails even in contexts that promote global solidarity and socioeconomic unity.

Advisor

Thomas, Zareen

Department

Sociology and Anthropology

Disciplines

Anthropology | Gender and Sexuality | Politics and Social Change | Tourism

Keywords

Voluntourism, imperialist nostalgia, imperialist amnesia, whiteness, imaginaries, humanitarian gaze

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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