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‘Doing development’: the gap year, volunteer‐tourists and a popular practice of development
Author(s) -
Simpson Kate
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/jid.1120
Subject(s) - phenomenon , hedonism , altruism (biology) , tourism , perspective (graphical) , face (sociological concept) , public relations , sociology , work (physics) , generation gap , political science , psychology , social science , social psychology , law , epistemology , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science
Abstract Over the last ten years the gap year has become a popular and publicly recognized phenomenon. One of the most visible forms of this phenomenon has been the emergence of ‘third world’ volunteer‐tourism programmes, which seek to combine the hedonism of tourism with the altruism of development work. Such programmes make the practice of international development doable, knowable and accessible to young travellers. This paper seeks to critique the construction of this public face of development, while also asking, from a pedagogical perspective, what travelling participants learn about ‘the others’ they encounter on, and through, such programmes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.