They really love me!: Intimacy in Volunteer Tourism

Broadly defined as an activity in which people pay to volunteer in development or conservation projects, voluntourism is one of the fastest growing alternative tourism markets in the world. Based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork among three non-governmental organizations in northern Thailand, this article suggests that intimacy overwhelmingly mediates the voluntourism experience for most participants. It argues that this focus on intimacy overshadows the structural inequalities on which the encounter is based, reframes the question of structural inequality as a question of individual morality and perpetuates an apolitical cultural politics of volunteer tourism. Despite these critiques, this article suggests that voluntourism can serve as a platform from which to gain support for broader social justice agendas.

► Intimacy is a dominant theme in volunteer tourism.
► Intimacy overshadows the structural inequality on which the encounter is based.
► Focusing on intimacy supports the continued expansion of neoliberalism.
► Volunteer tourism can be a platform for broader global justice agendas.