International Volunteer Tourism

Designed to promote reflection and 'better practices' among the prospective volunteers and organizers of travel-for-service experiences, International Volunteer Tourism provides narratives on short-term international volunteering in Central America written by North American organizers, student participants and Central American partners.

"This book offers comprehensive and thought-provoking perspectives on experiential learning and service abroad. It will undoubtedly be a useful resource for student, faculty, and staff reflection exercises. Much of the richness of this book lies in the authors' willingness to question their own approaches to and experiences with service learning abroad, and to encourage greater thoughtfulness and sensitivity as part of the pedagogy of service learning in developing countries." - Terry-Ann Jones, Associate Professor and Director of International Studies, Fairfield University, USA "Bracingly, piercingly critical, this collection not only reveals the dilemmas of voluntourism, but with measured insight it also suggests ethical ways to move forward. This collection will be indispensable for study abroad planners, tour leaders, scholars, and students who want to deepen the integrity and impact of their cross-cultural work." - Rory Turner, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and founder, Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability Program, Goucher College, USA "As international volunteering and service-learning projects have proliferated in recent years, so has the urgent need for serious, critical analysis of their nature and impact. This tightly-organized and comprehensive anthology situates the current trend historically and takes a careful and sympathetic look at both the potential and the pitfalls of such projects. Most of the contributors are participants observing themselves. I was particularly intrigued with the examination of how volunteer travel has become depoliticized since its roots in the revolutionary 1980s, and how practitioners are working to deepen the analysis, the impact, and the experience that such projects can entail. A fascinating and timely study." - Aviva Chomsky, Professor of History and Coordinator of Latin American Studies, Salem State University, USA

Katherine BorlandFather Fernando CardenalWilliam WestermanEllen MoodieKatherine DalyIrene KingEric Martin UsnerDavid MuñozAbigail E. Adams Steven Jones