"So, child protection, I'll make a quick point of It now”: broadening the notion of child abuse in volunteering vacations in Siem Reap, Cambodia

• Jane Reas ^[1]
  1. [1] Edge Hill University

     Edge Hill University

     West Lancashire District, Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Tourism review international, ISSN 1544-2721, Vol. 18, Nº. 4, 2015, págs. 295-309
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen
  • English

    This article is based on a qualitative study of volunteer tourists who spend vacation time with “poor” children in the fashionable volunteer tourist destination of Siem Reap in Cambodia. Although this tourist option is considered a mass niche commodity in the global tourism marketplace, only narrow understandings of child abuse and child protection are generally used when considering this largely well-regarded trend. The World Health Organization definition of child abuse talks about exploitation that may result in actual or potential harm, factors normally not linked to the efforts of well-intentioned vacationers. Bourdieu's notion of “symbolic violence” and Harvey's of “civilized oppression” are, however, concepts that consider the gentle and invisible possibilities of abuse, whereas Giroux argues that abuse to children occurs in even seemingly benign cultural spheres. By using these analytical ideas to move away from thinking that sees only pedophiles and perverts as exemplars of abuse (while in no way making light of these transgressors), attention can be focused onto questions of exploitation and notions of harm to dignity, as well as to considering how these issues may be concealed within this increasingly popular vacation trend.

  • English

    Volunteer tourism; Cambodia; Child abuse; Exploitation