Leiden University Student Repository

Isenheim, Katharina (2019)

Uncovering the African Development Discourse through the lens of Voluntourism

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

The thesis addresses the phenomenon of volunteer tourism and tries to evaluate its impact on the African development discourse. The question is addressed by analysing the use of images and phrases on two volunteer organizations’ Facebook timelines, Go Volunteer Africa and Volunteer Uganda, to investigate the ways in which they aid in constructing a narrative about the African development discourse.The analysis suggests that the discourse of need plays a crucial role in the organizations' approach to development. The images and phrases integrated in Facebook posts can also be traced back to a colonial as well as a racist discourse based upon which social realities of the volunteers and the host communities are being influenced.

voluntourism

african development discourse

postcolonialism

neoliberalism

orientalism

Author

Isenheim, Katharina

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Petrollino, Sara

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en