“LIKE I WAS FREAKING MOTHER TERESA!”: VOLUNTEER TOURISM IN INDIA THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF SELF- REPRESENTATION ON INSTAGRAM A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service By Juliet Tatiana Landegger FitzPatrick Washington, D.C. April 26th, 2021 FitzPatrick 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................4 Preface.............................................................................................................................................5 Introduction....................................................................................................................................8 - Outline...............................................................................................................................13 Chapter One: Literature Review................................................................................................14 - Introduction......................................................................................................................14 o Whiteness ..............................................................................................................16 - Volunteer Tourism...........................................................................................................18 o History of Helping..................................................................................................18 o Volunteer Tourism and you!..................................................................................19 o Giving Back ...........................................................................................................22 o Knowledge .............................................................................................................24 o Where do we go?....................................................................................................26 - Colonial.............................................................................................................................27 o British Influence.....................................................................................................28 o Orientalism............................................................................................................30 o Poverty ..................................................................................................................31 o Development..........................................................................................................32 - Images...............................................................................................................................33 o Proof of Presence...................................................................................................34 o Aesthetics...............................................................................................................35 o Humanitarianism...................................................................................................37 Chapter Two: Methodology........................................................................................................40 - Introduction......................................................................................................................39 - The Screenshots................................................................................................................41 o Collection...............................................................................................................43 o Analysis..................................................................................................................46 o Photo Variables ....................................................................................................47 o Caption Variables .................................................................................................48 - The Interviews..................................................................................................................49 o Recruitment............................................................................................................50 o Procedure...............................................................................................................52 FitzPatrick 3 Chapter Three: Instagram Screenshot Analysis.......................................................................55 - Introduction......................................................................................................................55 - Image.................................................................................................................................57 - White Savior Self....................................................................................................58 - Relationships..........................................................................................................59 - Background............................................................................................................62 - Caption..............................................................................................................................64 - Connection.............................................................................................................65 - Experience..............................................................................................................67 - Narrative................................................................................................................68 Chapter Four: Interview Analysis..............................................................................................70 - Introduction......................................................................................................................70 - The White Gaze......................................................................................................71 - Selfish Learning.....................................................................................................76 - Institutions.............................................................................................................77 - Picture Taking.......................................................................................................80 - Posting ..................................................................................................................81 - American Expectations..........................................................................................83 - On the Job..............................................................................................................84 - Show Off.................................................................................................................87 - What do you know?................................................................................................88 - Hygiene..................................................................................................................89 - Ruggedness & Ease...............................................................................................90 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................94 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................100 Appendices..................................................................................................................................112 - Appendix A: Recruitment Poster.................................................................................112 - Appendix B: Institutional Review Board Study Exemption......................................113 - Appendix C: Interview Consent Form.........................................................................114 - Appendix D: Interview Sample Questions...................................................................116 FitzPatrick 4 Acknowledgements A big thank you to my advisors, Professors Arjun Shankar & Diana Owen, for guiding me through this process during a pandemic! Thank you for your kind feedback and helpful reminders. Thank you to Anthony Pirrotti, my dean, who endured a lot of stress-induced tears. Thank you to all my interview participants and Instagram-users who provided data for the research. Thank you to my inter-reliability coder and roommate for checking that data, Anni Xu. My family, friends, and anyone who has heard me speak incessantly about this thesis. Shoutout to beef rat ;) I love you all. I would like to thank by name: “Papa” George Landegger, Margaret “Gaga” King FitzPatrick, Jack FitzPatrick, Francis FitzPatrick, Helena Landegger, Mark FitzPatrick, Jimmy FitzPatrick, Laura Landegger, Justine Boe-Wiegaard, Katya Rynearson, Vanessa Antonoili, Timothy FitzPatrick, Pippa. Lara Cummins, Rohini Sinha, Andrew Rochat, Erika Gebhardt, Julianne Licamele, Angelina Maleska, Ariana Roberts, Angelica Rossi-Hawkins, Brian Araque, Nick Chirico, Jackson Adler, Grace Kim, Nicole Freire, Nick Kaliss, Ariyand Aminpour, Kenan Kitchen, Sebastian Babis, Michael Turk, Winston Ardoin, Nate Rowe, Sam Dubke, Ella Nudell, Abigail Khouri. Julia Feigen, Jane Hutton, Madison Scully. Ruby &