A scathing reflection on mission trips by Lauren Kascak, a graduate of the Masters Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University and Sayantani DasGupta, faculty member in #InstagrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism
I have participated in not one but three separate, and increasingly disillusioning, international health brigades, short-term visits to developing countries that involve bringing health care to struggling populations.Such trips—critically called voluntourism—are a booming business, even though they do very little advertising and charge people thousands of dollars to participate.
How do they attract so many paying volunteers?
Photography is a big part of the answer. Voluntourism organizations don’t have to advertise, because they can crowdsource. Photography—particularly the habit of taking and posting selfies with local children—is a central component of the voluntourism experience. Hashtags like #InstagrammingAfrica are popular with students on international health brigades, as are #medicalbrigades, #globalhealth, and of course the nostalgic-for-the-good-days hashtag #takemeback.
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