Volunteer tourism as alternative tourism: journeys beyond otherness.

Abstract

This introductory chapter provides some foundational discussion that opens the way for detailed exploration of volunteer tourism through the following case studies. The chapter outlines some broader debates about alternative tourism and the processes of power that underpin it. In order to elaborate how volunteer tourism has the ability to move beyond the simplistic oppression/emancipation dialectic, it is argued that it is crucial for researchers examining volunteer tourism to steer away from the dichotomous view that power is exercised by dominant players (tourism operators) over oppressed actors (destination communities), and instead adopt an alternative analytical framework that suggests emancipation is immanent in daily power struggles, rather than simply standing in opposition to oppression.