Intimacy, Othering and National Ideologies in Voluntary Tourism

Zakariás, Ildikó (2014) Intimacy, Othering and National Ideologies in Voluntary Tourism. In: Nationalist Responses to Economic and Political Crises, 2014.06.12-2014.06.14, Budapest.

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Abstract

According to scholarly literature two interrelated areas of motivations play an important role in grounding ‘voluntourist’ endeavours. A self - centered desire for difference, for the Other as exotic, typical of mass tourism is completed by a desire for personal contact with hosts imbued with relations of care, and often emotional closeness and intimacy. The ‘advocacy’ literature regards the later motive as leading to more inclusive, egalitarian encounters between volunteers and hosts that may counteract the relations of domination and hierarchy mass tourism (re)creates; however a more critical strand see s the structural inequalities and discourses of otherness hindering such spaces of open communication and equal disclosure besides benevolent intentions. Instead of taking a radical position, my paper aims to analyse conditions and processes of creating su ch intimate spaces in volunteer - host encounters. How hierarchies produced by discourses and narratives of otherness relate to the creation of intimacy characterized by emotional closeness, care and concern for each other? How is the seeming paradox of hier archy and distance as opposed to equality and proximity managed by volunteers and hosts? Such questions will be examined based on participant observation and semi - structured interviews conducted in voluntary programs organized in Hungary, directed towards supporting ethnic Hungarian minorities in neigbouring countries of Ukraine and Romania. The role of national ideologies - especially of national authenticity and (national) traditions - comprising of paradoxical narratives of national sameness and differen ce in managing intimate relations will also be briefly discussed.

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