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JX"^ International Volunteers at a Costa Rican Organic Farm: Sheepish Volunteers, Proud Tourists and Unwitting Developers Katherine J. Zavitz A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Program in Social Justice and Equity Studies Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario August, 2004 ^AMESAGIBS(^LliiAW BROCK UNIVERSITY ST. CATHARINES ON ii Abstract This thesis analyzes the practices and experiences of two groups of Canadian volunteers who visited the organic farming and "alternative development" project of Finca la Flor (FLF) in central Costa Rica. Using both participant observation and in-depth interviews with volunteers and other people involved with FLF, I examine volunteers' understandings of their involvement with the farm. I argue that three discursive formations are instrumental in shaping this particular volunteering encounter. Specifically, interpretation of these Canadian volunteers' experiences inspires the argument that the emerging practice of international volunteering (or voluntourism) exists at the intersection of discourses of development, volunteering and tourism, all of which both reflect and maintain problematic North-South relationships. The analysis shows that in spite of FLF's construction as an (alternative / sustainable) international-development project, and in spite of volunteers' initial conceptualization of their trip as "volunteering," volunteers tend to act and describe their time at FLF in ways that look more like tourism than like volunteer labor or international development. Likewise, although FLF claims to principally be focused on alternative development, and merely to open up this authentic development space to volunteers for their participation, the organization in both practice and discourse seems primarily to construct a tourist experience and cater to the needs of foreigners as tourists. Discourses of development and volunteering do inform the practices of farm personnel and volunteers at FLF, but they become subordinated to the more dominant discourse of tourism as the volunteers' and farm management's ideals of development and volunteering capitulate to become focused on satisfying volunteers' (perceived or "real") touristic desires. The FLF participants I studied may have entered the encounter as volunteers, but they departed the site having been tourists. Acknowledgements First, I want to thank the people in la Flor, who tactfully and graciously deal with an influx of foreigners (including myself) into their community. Thanks to the Canadian volunteers, who opened up to me about their volunteering experience, their ideas about "self and "other" and how that fits in to their social world. I also wish to express appreciation to Finca la Flor and Compaiieros for their support of my critical investigation of international volunteering. Thanks to June Corman and my Social Justice colleagues, who offered unwavering encouragement and support. In addition, thanks to Nancy Cook for her excellent "fi-ee advice" and, along with Nina Butz, friendship and hospitality. Special thanks to my dear friend Emily Eaton, a true academic in the best possible sense, whose excitement inspired me when my own was wearing out. Last, I want to extend thanks to my advisor and friend David Butz for investing more time, encouragement, and direction than could ever reasonably be expected from a supervisor. I know I will remember this project less as a final product than as an exciting and dynamic process, thanks to him. David encouraged me to disturb comfortable assumptions that I had about international volunteering and about myself, and showed me how successful collaboration can re-work ideas into a new narrative. It has been such a rewarding experience to work with you, David. Thanks so much. w Table of Contents Abstract U Acknowledgements ni Figures: Figure One: Location of la Flor in Costa Rica vn Figure Two: Sketch Map of Finca la Flor viii Chapter One- Introduction 1 Situating the Research: My Involvement with International Volunteering 1 Investigating International Volunteerism at Finca la Flor 6 Discourse 10 Discourse Analysis in Said's Orientalism 14 Arguments for Understanding Each Core Concept as a Set of Discourses 19 i. Development as Discourse 20 ii. Tourism as Discourse 22 iii. Volunteerism as Discourse 23 Chapter Two - Empirical Details: Finca la Flor and Compafieros 25 Introduction to Finca la Flor 25 i. Physical Features 26 ii. The Community and its Environmental Context 27 iii. The Farm's Stated Objectives 29 iv. The People Involved / Organizational Structure 31 Introduction to Comparieros / Volunteer Abroad 34 Chapter Three - Volunteerism as a Cascade of Concessions : From Altruism to Self-interest 37 Review of Relevant Literature 37 Data Analysis 46 1 i. Conceptual Idealism 47 ii. Describing Volunteers and Local People 50 iii. Transition to Mutuality 54 iv. Re-inventing "Work" and "Leisure" 57 V. Self Benefit 62 vi. Cultural Capital 66 vii. Pay 69 Chapter Four - From Volunteerism to Voluntourism 74 Review of Relevant Literature 74 Data Analysis 81 i. Volunteers Defining Tourism 82 ii. Critiques of Tourism 86 iii. Voluntourism as Categorically Different from Other Tourisms 88 iv. Authenticity and Voluntourism 91 V. Reducing Tourist Guilt 96 vi. How Space is Described and Used on the Farm and in La Flor 99 vii. Questioning Volunteers' Commitment to Voluntourism 105 Chapter Five - Development: the Invisible Discourse 111 Review of Relevant Literature 1 1 Data Analysis 119 i. A Textual Reading From FLF and Compaiieros Websites 1 19 ii. Volunteers Defining Development 120 iii. Developing Countries as "in need" of Assistance from the North 123 iv. Understanding Volunteering As International Development 125 v. Volunteers' Understanding of the Farm 129 vi. Transition in Farm Operations: From Volunteering/ Conservation to Agro- ecotourism 135 Chapter Six - Conclusion 141 International Volunteerism at Finca la Flor 141 Limitations and Directions for Further Research 144 A Radical Critique of International Volunteerism 148 VI Appendices Appendix A: Research Design 150 Appendix B: Steps to Data Collection 151 Reference List 152 vu Caribbean Sea Pacific Ocean 50 I I I I I J Kilometres Figure One: Location of la Flor in Costa Rica 81 vin Legend 1 elementary school 1 agriculture 2 office 12 dry house 3 outdoor kitchen/dining area 13 medicinal plant garden 4 owner's mother's house 14 owners' cabin 5 girls' cabin, boys' cabin 15 kennel for owners' dogs 6 sheep stall & horse stable 16 organic compost/worm house 7 family quarters for volunteers 17 chicken coop 8 vegetable garden 1 rustic cabin for volunteer couples 9 horse stable 19 cabin for volunteer couple or family 10 goat stall Figure Two: Sketch Map of Finca la Flor CHAPTER ONE Introduction Situating the Research: My Involvement with International Volunteering The story of my involvement with international volunteerism is also a story about how I have come to understand and study international volunteerism within the context of development, tourism and volunteerism in general. It is epistemologically important to acknowledge my own location in this research and how I came to occupy a particular position where I have been simultaneously a mediator and a critic of volunteerism. After finishing my undergraduate degree, I felt a desire common to many graduating students; I wanted to travel, to see and understand more of the world, to take a "gap year" between school and (for me) more school. I spent my year off working and trying to save up enough money to make a trip to "somewhere" in Latin America, and started searching for the right location. My criteria were simple: I wanted to be learning, helping, working while I was there. I knew I would feel guilty just traveling around as a tourist. Apart from that, as a first venture traveling on my own, I wanted to be associated with some established infi-astructure to ease me into a different culture. There were hundreds of organizations with very polished web- pages advertising volunteering opportunities, and I discovered that for a good chunk of money I could go wherever I wanted, adopt whatever cause struck a chord with me, and stay there fi^om two weeks to a year, at my leisure. Volunteers could, for example, live in a Tibetan mountain community helping with "children's centers," teach health classes in Peru's highlands or "save" the rainforest in Ecuador. The organizations whose websites I browsed shared common discourses about development (that it was good, needed, and that more rich Westerners / Northerners like me were somehow helpful to poor "Others") and presented similar constructions of what constituted worthwhile travel, communicating that it was best to see a place "authentically", helping and living with local people in one place for an extended duration, rather than quickly visiting multiple locations. The world was a young (wealthy) person's oyster, with hundreds of volunteering options available to me. Eventually, an e-mail from a friend led me to an organic farming and conservation project in Costa Rica called Finca la Flor which hosted international volunteers and involved them in community work, organic farming, forest regeneration and sustainable development. A new and very small Canadian NGO called Compaiieros was organizing round trips to the farm for Canadian volunteers. I knew nothing about agriculture, farming, forest protection and the likes but felt a strong philosophical commitment to these activities. When I discovered the website for Finca la Flor, I was sold on the project. It offered everything possible: work with medicinal plants, in regenerating unprotected rainforest, with animals, in organic agriculture, Spanish lessons, work at a local school, or a course in sustainable development. On top of all this, the farm was run by two women (appealing to my interests in woman-centered projects) and had a committed vegetarian philosophy. I signed up for a month in August (all I could afford, even after a full year of working), and enrolled in the farm's sustainable development course.