Humanitarian humor, digilantism, and the dilemmas of representing volunteer tourism on social media

Abstract

How is volunteer tourism practice portrayed and policed in an online setting? First, this article describes three humanitarian-themed campaigns—Radi-Aid on YouTube, Humanitarians of Tinder on Tumblr, and Barbie Savior on Instagram—to consider the ways edgy humor might be employed to rebuke and resolve problematic humanitarian practices as well as representations of the African “other” and the humanitarian self. Second, through an inspection of repeated semi-structured interviews and visual content uploaded to Facebook, this article shows how a group of UK-based international volunteers took measures to avoid “stereotypical” volunteer photography (embracing children, selfies) when communicating their experiences in Kenya to a public audience, determined to avoid the scrutiny of “in the know” audience members. We consider these counter-narratives in light of Jane’s concept of “digilantism,” an emerging style of networked response to injustice.

“Gazing” and “performing”: Travel photography and online self-presentation

“…Second, it is helpful to consider the visual text minimized or withheld from social media: participants largely refrained from uploading content that could be likened to “stereotypical” volunteer tourist photography, in part, because they feared this style of imagery was or would be received as ethically compromising (see Schwarz and Richey, 2019). To elaborate one such omission, a couple of participants specifically problematized the visual trope of white volunteers surrounded by non-white children, and articulated such apprehension before the excursion had even commenced.…”

Volunteer tourism and gender: A feminist research agenda

“…In recent years, numerous critiques have surfaced online, such as the Instagram account Barbie Saviour (Sin and He, 2018). This initiative depicts the doll as a young, white female volunteer who reproduces colonialist dynamics, especially with children or wild animals, and appropriating traditional styles of dress and hair (Schwarz and Richey, 2019), imitating a volunteer tourist in the role of 'white saviour' (Wearing et al, 2018). As these authors affirm, although the account was created as a criticism of this particular type of voluntourist profile and behaviour, it is crucial to be aware of how these simplistic critiques may also maintain the current binary oppositions of race and gender, homogenising a complex phenomenon.…”

“…The majority of the pictures that participants take during their experience are selfies with the local community, which are later distributed via social networks like Facebook (Bandyopadhyay and Patil, 2017), Instagram or Twitter, among others. Specifically, in Tinder, photographs become an element of attraction (Schwarz and Richey, 2019). Images of volunteer tourists, particularly white women, hand-holding, hugging, laughing, and surrounded by young children are regular representations of the voluntourism experience on social networking sites (Mostafanezhad, 2013; Sin and He, 2018).…”

Communicating Ethical Engagement Abroad: A Content Analysis of Service-Learning Study Abroad Third-Party Provider Websites

“…A growing awareness in young adults of the role visual media plays in constructing narratives about power and privilege in developing countries has resulted in the emergence of counter narrative initiatives on social media platforms. Campaigns like Humanitarians of Tinder on Tumblr and Barbie Savior on Instagram poke fun at the practice of sharing images online that blur the lines between service, tourism, and exploitation and propagate myths about people and problems in developing countries (Schwarz & Richey, 2019). In a study published in 2019, Sin and He discovered that these types of satirical campaigns may be succeeding in raising some students' consciousness about the types of photos they post and how they depict their service abroad (Sin & He, 2019).…”