‘Slum tourism’ is a growing trend in ‘exotic’ and ‘yet-to-develop’ contexts. In this post, Jessica Aquino discusses her research into the psychosocial impact of the interaction between tourists and favela dwellers on favela communities. By comparing the impact of volunteer tourism and slum tourism, she shows that while the former has the potential to foster self-esteem and community pride, the latter tends to reinforce negative representations of the favela

Aquino, Jessica

LSE Research Online

Communicating bottom-up social developmentPhoto courtesy of Jessica AquinoThe psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelasof Rio de Janeiro‘Slum tourism’ is a growing trend in ‘exotic’ and ‘yet-to-develop’ contexts. In this post, JessicaAquino discusses her research into the psychosocial impact of the interaction between tourists andfavela dwellers on favela communities. By comparing the impact of volunteer tourism and slumtourism, she shows that while the former has the potential to foster self-esteem and communitypride, the latter tends to reinforce negative representations of the favela.There has been increasing news coverage about Brazil because of the 2014 World Cup and the2016 Olympic games, and tourism is predicted to increase in Brazil because of these events. Slumtourism has gained popularity over the years, directing attention toward its impact on thecommunity. However, a study on the effects of volunteer tourism on slum communities has beenlacking. To bridge this gap, in 2011 we conducted such a study on volunteer tourism in Rio deJaneiro, tapping into how community residents feel about tourism vis-à-vis their pride andself-esteem.Volunteer tourism is defined as the process of involving visitors as “volunteer[s] in an organizedway to undertake holidays that might involve aiding or alleviating the material poverty of somegroups in society, the restoration of certain environments or research into aspects of society orHome About Book Links News and Events Resources This site is supported byBookUndergroundSociabilities waspublished byUNESCO in 2013.Click on theimage for freedownload .Social media The psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | Favelas at LSE1 of 5environment” (Wearing, 2001: 1). In the case of Rio de Janeiro, many favela-based NGOs haveorganised themselves to help alleviate some of the effects of poverty and, to this end, havechosen to work with volunteer tourists. Volunteer tourists interact directly with the community in arange of roles such as language teachers, sports and physical activity coaches or tutors, withothers working on refurbishing the NGOs or building community gardens.For comparison purposes, we contrasted the effects of volunteer tours against those of slumtours, which are short guided tours through a community. Slum tours are described by sometourism agencies as an ethical or alternative way of visiting slum communities while creatingencounters that promote mutual understanding and respect. However, researchers have arguedthat just like other forms of tourism, it does not automatically create a positive cross-culturalexperience, may not be as ethical as claimed, may reinforce stereotypes, and turn communityresidents into a commodity (Freire-Medeiros, 2009).Volunteer tourists: friendship, community pride and knowledge exchangeBoth the NGOs and community groups agreed that they enjoyed working with volunteer touristsand saw the benefits of volunteer tourism.  While some indications of negative impact were found,here we focus on the constructive perceptions of the community.Community members expressed that they had made life-long friendships and hoped to get toknow more volunteers in the future. One community member explains it best when asked abouthow she felt about the volunteer tourists in her community:I think it’s wonderful, because through that everyone has the opportunity toexchange experiences; make new friends. From there a world opens up for you,the doors open for you, because you sometimes make a friendship in a short timebut it is for the rest of your life…. (24 year old female from Rocinha)According to the accounts of favela residents the contact between volunteer tourists andcommunity members also stimulated self-esteem and community pride. For example, manymentioned that they enjoyed hosting volunteers in their community because they have a chanceto show them all the good things about their community and about themselves, which is oftenconflicting with media portrayal of the favela. They acknowledged that those in power are theones creating the images of their community. By having volunteer tourists in the favela andpresenting their community to them, favela dwellers are able to offer their own image to the restof the world and challenge outside representations.  Volunteers, in turn, may help empower thecommunity by actively trying to get to know its residents and by later spreading the word abouttheir experiences.The community especially valued the exchange of knowledge and ideas with volunteer tourists.It was reported that volunteers not only come to work and teach, but that it is more of anexchange of ideas in which the knowledge held by the community is also valued and consideredon equal footing to that of outsiders. This exchange is seen as reciprocal: the community learnsjust as much from the volunteers as the volunteers learn from them.As one of the residents noted:Very important. This exchange of information, and of experiences, this exchangein life habits, is very enriching for us, to the children and I believe that it is to[volunteers] too; it’s an experience that they acquire here too…(60+ year oldwoman volunteer from Barreira do Vasco)Brief comparison with favela toursThe perception of volunteer tours as largely beneficial stands in stark contrast to how theLSE Latam is a joint effort of @lseargentinasoc @LSEsuColombia @LSESUMexicanSoc @CASAUK_org  Chile. Inviting Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and all!Retweeted by Favelas atLSELSE SU Latam @latamlseExpandThere is need for subsidised or free #healthcare for the growing population of older people living in #slums ow.ly/FUTrNFavelas at LSE @FavelasatLSE2h11hTweets FollowTweet to @FavelasatLSELike us on FacebookFavelas at LSE: Adialogue betweenthe UK and Brazil904 people like Favelas at LSE: Adialogue between the UK and Brazil.Facebook social pluginLikeArchiveSubscribe to Favelas at LSEvia EmailEnter your email address tosubscribe to this blog andreceive notifications of newposts by email.The psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | Favelas at LSE2 of 5community perceived favela tours. For example, because of the aforementioned ‘exchange’, thecommunity felt that there was equality between the volunteers and the community, whereas intheir accounts they referred to favela tours mostly as exploitive of the community. Similarly, whenobserving slum tours, we noticed that on some guided tours community members would try totalk to the tourist but because of the language barrier they could not establish a dialogue. Withinvolunteer tourism, in contrast, volunteers were able to circumvent the language barrier byspending more time interacting and using other forms of communication such as hand signals,pictures, and others who could translate.Our findings show that volunteer tourism helps recreate the negative way favelas are oftenportrayed by fostering a more realistic social representation, thereby improving self-esteem in thecommunity, helping break down preconceptions, and aiding in creating community pride. Favelaresidents feel as equals with the volunteers and describe their interactions as friendships, sharingof cultural experiences, and exchanging of knowledge.Conversely, while some residents noted the economic significance of favela tours to thecommunity, the majority of them described favela tours as dehumanizing and felt that theircommunity was being sold as a commodity. “We are not an attraction” stated a 32 year oldwoman from Barreira do Vasco, echoing expressions from other residents who referred to favelatours as ‘safari tour’ or ‘zoo tour’.Overall, community members saw more positive benefits with, and preferred volunteer tourismover, favela tours. They felt that the more time a person spent working or interacting in theircommunity the more able they were to understand their realities. Slum tourists, unfortunately,only see what the tour guides want them to see.ReferencesFreire-Medeiros, B. (2009). The favela and its touristic transits. Geoforum, 40(4), 580-588.Wearing, S. (2001). Volunteer tourism: experiences that make a difference. Wallingford: CABIPublishing.Dr Jessica Aquino is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the School of Community Resources andDevelopment, Arizona State University.  Her research focuses on tourism experiences from theperspective of residents and tourists and the potential contribution that tourism has oncommunity development and conservation of protected areas.Professor Kathleen Andereck is the director of the School of Community Resources andDevelopment at Arizona State University, where she is also a Senior Sustainability Scientist withthe Global Institute for Sustainability. Her research focuses on tourism experience from theperspective of both visitors and residents, particularly as it applies to sustainable communitytourism development.The views expressed on this post belong solely to the author and should not be taken as theopinion of the Favelas@LSE Blog nor of the LSE. Please read our comments policy before commenting.Share this:The psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | Favelas at LSE3 of 5August 21st, 2014 | Brazil, English | 1 Comment Previous postOne CommentLeave A CommentNext post The psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | LSE Careers blog  August22, 2014 at 1:38 pm - Reply[…] This blog entry originally posted on the Favelas@LSE blog. […] Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email.CONTACTfavelas@lse.ac.ukFavela Painting: Buildingcommunity, social changeand emancipation throughan OrgansparkZ/ArtinstallationA little hill with big impact:Favelas, art and socialrelevanceTypes of favela mediaactivismThe psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | Favelas at LSE4 of 5Copyright © 2014 LSEThe psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro | Favelas at LSE5 of 5

The psychosocial impact of volunteer tourism in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

LSE Research Online