"Morrinho NGO" Copyright © Jessica Aquino, All Rights Reserved

Study and Research

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AND VOLUNTEER TOURISM IN FAVELA (SLUM) COMMUNITIES OF RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

Jessica Aquino
PhD Candidate
School of Community Resources and Development
Arizona State University, USA
Visiting Researcher and Professor
Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CDS)
University of Brasília, Brazil
Jessica.Aquino@asu.edu

Dr. Kathleen Andereck
Director and Professor
School of Community Resources and Development
Senior Sustainability Scientist
Global Institute of Sustainability
Arizona State University – USA
kandereck@asu.edu

For this issue of the research forum section of The VolunTourist Newsletter, we are pleased to share highlights from Ms. Jessica Aquino’s work in progress for her doctorate thesis. The purpose of her study is to examine the impacts of volunteer tourism in vulnerable communities, such as favelas (shantytowns) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While her project has several components, the focus for this report will be volunteer tourist’s perceptions of the effects of volunteer tourism on the community. Jessica is currently at the University of Brasilia as an invited researcher and professor in the Center for Sustainable Development and working with the research group “Produção, Consumo, Turismo e Sustentabilidade,” under the direction of Helena Araújo Costa and Elimar Nascimento from March until September 2012. Jessica was awarded the Arizona State University Dissertation Fellowship 2012-2013 and will complete her doctorate in May 2013.

Introduction

This study has been developed to address a need for further research that critically looks at the impacts of tourism in general, and volunteer tourism in particular, in vulnerable communities, such as favela (slum) communities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Slum tours and favela tours have become a niche market at an international level (Dyson, 2012; Freire-Medeiros, 2009a; Frisch, 2012). While favelas have a history of marginalization, many NGOs working in favela communities have organized themselves to help alleviate some of the effects of poverty and have chosen to work with volunteer tourists. As slum communities typically have less power to control tourism development, it is important to understand how they feel about volunteer tourism and its effects on some members of the community, especially since it is sold as a form of sustainable tourism.  

Volunteer tourism has been described in academic and professional literature as a sustainable way to travel (Wearing & Wearing, 1999), while others question its effectiveness in the issues of sustainability (Lorimer, 2009; Raymond & Hall, 2008).  Research describing how volunteer tourism is sustainable is relatively lacking in academic literature.  While research in the area of community perceptions toward volunteer tourism is just beginning to emerge (McGehee & Andereck, 2008; McGehee & Andereck, 2004), much of the sociological work in volunteer tourism has focused on the individual tourist and the part that tourism plays in establishing individual identity and a sense of self (Wearing, Deville, & Lyons, 2008). As a result, the concept of volunteer tourism is becoming more firmly conceptualized, and we are beginning to understand what motivates volunteer tourists, but what is less understood is how volunteers view their effects on a community (McGehee, 2012). 

Methods: A Multidimensional Study

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used in order to allow the participants to describe how they perceive the different forms of tourism in a community.  Information was gathered from 16 volunteer tourists from August to October 2011.  Data collection was conducted on site in favelas in Rio de Janeiro. 

Preliminary Results:

Effects of volunteer tourism on the community

The volunteer tourists described both positive and negative impacts of volunteer tourism. For example, several of the volunteers reported that sometimes they were concerned for the children when it was time for the volunteers to go back to their country of origin.  The children became close to them very quickly and when a volunteer missed a class or stopped volunteering it impacted the children negatively. Some of the children became disappointed while others stopped coming to the NGO.  This supports the work of Freire-Medeiros et al, (2011) where attendance of children in programs developed by NGO’s fluctuated according to the presence of volunteer tourists. As one participant explained:

“I did have one student who was very introverted… I realized once that she left my class… and when I went to find her after the class that I realized that she was one of the only children from the institute who didn’t live in this area so the problem was that she was feeling very isolated. And then I kind of struck up a relationship with her and kind of brought her out of herself a bit more and got her a bit more engaged with the students in the class. Unfortunately, because I left she doesn’t come to the classes anymore."

This was also true with adults who were taking language or job skill courses. They would express disappointment and frustration when a volunteer stopped working or left to go back to her or his own country before the course had ended.  There were no guarantees if the adults would understand the new worker’s accent or if they would speak Portuguese.  This would make the adults somewhat anxious about the course while leaving an impression that the volunteers did not take their work seriously.

The volunteers expressed that the language barrier was one of the greatest obstacles that they had to overcome.  Many of them come to Brazil and do not speak Portuguese; without understanding the language it is less likely that they understand Brazilian culture.  Without understanding the language, it is difficult to understand how much of the prejudices that are placed on community members are instilled or dispelled by the tourists. As a result, it should not be assumed that cross-cultural understandings are automatically constructed from volunteer tourism, but rather it should be an active goal formed by both the NGOs and by the volunteer tourists (Raymond & Hall, 2008).   

If there is a language barrier between the community members and the volunteer tourists it is less likely that the volunteers have a true understanding of the social reality and social life lived by community members.  Many of the volunteers expressed frustration when they attempted to teach children or adults because they could not communicate properly.  Because of this language barrier, many of the NGOs or volunteer tourism organizations now offer language courses, which have helped with communication between the volunteer tourists and the community members.

Comparing other forms of tourism with favela volunteer tourists
Volunteer tourists stressed that there is more commitment to the community and to the NGOs as a volunteer tourist rather than if they were ‘just an ordinary tourist’ on holiday. For example:

“You are not just coming to see things. You are coming to be part of the community, and to try to help out in whatever areas that you choose to volunteer. And also, just trying to get to know the locals which, I think, is the opposite or a difficult thing if you come and travel to Brazil for only for two weeks. You are not going to meet that many locals."

About one half of the participants had previously volunteered at another organization.  Those that had volunteered elsewhere expressed a greater commitment to the community and had planned to stay longer than those who were volunteering for the first time. In addition, those who had previous experience decided to come to Rio de Janeiro without the use of a sending organization (a tourism agency that sends volunteer tourists to destinations for volunteer work). However, those who were volunteering for the first time wanted to do so with a well-established volunteer tourism sending organization in order to feel more secure and have more tourist options for their trip.

Many volunteer tourists mentioned the favelas tours. The Zona Sul favelas tours provide an experience that includes other, more traditional forms of tourism in addition to volunteer tourism.  This includes a 2-6 hour guided tour through a favela in Zona Sul.  While a few tours use guides from favelas, many of the tours are conducted with guides that are not from the communities. Not surprisingly, many of the tourists who were interviewed had mixed feelings about favela tours. This was similar to what Freire-Medeiros pointed out regarding the favela tours in Rocinha from the community members’ point of view (2009b). When compared to the impacts of favela tourists to that of volunteer tourism, the volunteers expressed that the tourism companies were the primary economic beneficiaries of  favela tours, whereas with volunteer tourism, the community benefited the most.

“Well everyone [benefits from volunteer tourism]! I think the children benefit because they are being taught English and Spanish from native speakers… I mean that’s just fantastic! [They are] also meeting people from all over the world, which I mean, that’s also fantastic. We as volunteers are benefiting because we are getting an amazing experience. We have people who would like to teach in the future this is kind of like our training ground for that. We also get to know the people here in Rocinha, we can establish relationships here. We can establish roots here if we want to come back. You know, this was my motivation for learning Portuguese… so I think everyone benefits."

However, there were many volunteer tourists that doubted their impact on the community mainly because of the language barrier. As one volunteer tourist explained:

“I don’t know how I am impacting the community. I don’t know if they benefit from me working there. I can’t communicate to the kids and it’s hard to get their attention while teaching. I am learning Portuguese through them. But I think I am learning more from them than what they are learning from me." 

"Favela Tours from a Local" Copyright © Jessica Aquino, All Rights Reserved

As previously noted, once again those who spoke Portuguese felt that they had a more positive impact than those who did not speak Portuguese.  This provides more support for the  development of language classes for volunteer tourists in order to create better cross-cultural understanding and greater benefits for both the volunteer tourist and the community member.

Conclusion: The Three "C's" of Favela Volunteer Tourism

This paper represents a work in progress and has described preliminarily results of the interviews conducted with the volunteer tourists and their perceived impacts in the communities for which they volunteered. The volunteers described both positive and negative impacts of volunteer tourism, with the themes of commitment, communication, and cultural understanding at the forefront.

Interviewees felt that in order to truly understand the day-to-day life of people who live in a favela the volunteers needed to make a serious commitment and work for an extended period of time. The longer they stayed, the less likely they would leave with a romanticized idea of favela life. In fact, all three groups who were interviewed as part of the larger project (community members, volunteer tourists, and NGO administrators) expressed that they would prefer that the volunteers would stay for longer periods of time. This increased the benefits to the communities and the NGOs because then one volunteer would finish teaching a course or finish a project that she or he had started.  Both the volunteers and community members have an opportunity to exchange cultural knowledge.  However, for the volunteers they were able to learn about the lived reality of members of these communities, which may help dispel some of the prejudices experienced about the community members in Brazil.  Tourists who work in favelas typically stay for a longer period of time when compared to other forms of tourism and have a better chance of a cultural exchange than that of the favela tourists.  Volunteers acknowledged that volunteer tourism had greater positive impacts on a community when compared to other forms of tourism, and in particular to favela tours.  

Additionally, the volunteers, the NGO administrators, and members of the community expressed frustrations when classes where canceled because lack of commitment by the volunteer.  Since volunteers are both workers and tourists it is very easy to forget responsibilities towards the NGOs and become more of a traveler rather than a worker.  If the volunteer had previously volunteered elsewhere, they were more likely to volunteer for longer periods of time and show more commitment.  However, because of a small sample size of 16 volunteers who were interviewed, more research needs to be conducted on volunteer intentions in order to make a final conclusion. 

It was also expressed that a language barrier was one of the greatest obstacles that the volunteer tourists had to overcome.  Communication is critical.  Those who could not communicate well with the community residents doubted their importance within the community and were often frustrated by that.  Language classes specifically for the volunteers help add to the experiences for both the tourist and the community.

Cultural understanding was found to be closely related to communication and was a by-product of commitment. Volunteers who spoke Portugese had a much greater understanding of favela culture due to their ability to communicate more deeply with local residents. Making the effort to learn the language also demonstrated a greater commitment to the community, again lowering barriers between the volunteers and the local residents.

"Rocinho Market Day" Copyright © Jessica Aquino, All Rights Reserved

Research in the area of volunteer tourism will help to better understand the benefits of this form of tourism in communities while also investigating the current constraints that volunteer tourism might have in meeting community development goals and its impacts on community residents. Further research that investigates the different types of tourism in vulnerable communities is needed in order to full address the argument if volunteer tourism can be considered sustainable or a form of social inclusion.

References

Deaux, K., & Philogène, G. (2001). Introduction. In K. Deaux & G. Philogène (Eds.), Representations of the social: Bridging theoretical traditions (pp. 1-7): Wiley-Blackwell.

Dyson, P. (2012). Slum Tourism: Representing and Interpreting 'reality' in Dharavi, Mumbai. Tourism Geographies, 14(2), 254-274.

Freire-Medeiros, B. (2009a). The favela and its touristic transits. Geoforum, 40(4), 580-588.

Freire-Medeiros, B. (2009b). Gringo na laje: Produção, circulação e consumo da favela turística. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.

Freire-Medeiros, B., Nunes, F., & Campello, L. (2011). Sobre afetos e fotos: Volunturistas em uma favela Carioca. RBTur, 5(2), 157-176.

Frisch, T. (2012). Glimpses of another world: The favela as a tourist attraction. Tourism Geographies, 14(2), 320-338.

Lorimer, J. (2009). International conservation volunteering from the UK: what does it contribute? [Article]. Oryx, 43(3), 352-360.

McGehee, N. G. (2012). Oppression, emancipation, and volunteer tourism: Research Propositions. Annals of tourism research, 39(1), 84–107.

McGehee, N. G., & Andereck, K. (2008). 'Pettin' the critters': exploring the complex relationship between volunteers and the voluntoured in McDowell County, West Virginia, USA, and Tijuana, Mexico. In K. Lyons & S. Wearing (Eds.), Journeys of Discovery in Volunteer Tourism (pp. 12-24).

McGehee, N. G., & Andereck, K. L. (2004). Factors predicting rural residents' support of tourism. Journal of Travel Research, 43(2), 131.

Moscovici, S. (1973). foreword to C. Herzlich. Health and illness.

Pearce, P. L., Moscardo, G., & Ross, G. F. (1996). Tourism community relationships: Pergamon, Oxford, OX, UK; Tarrytown, NY, USA.

Philogène, G., & Deaux, K. (2001). Introduction. In K. Deaux & G. Philogène (Eds.), Representations of the social: Bridging theoretical traditions (pp. 3-7). Oxford: Blackwell.

Raymond, E. M., & Hall, C. M. (2008). The development of cross-cultural (mis)understanding through volunteer tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16(5), 530-543.

Simpson, K. (2004). 'Doing development': The gap year, volunteer tourists and a popular practice of development. Journal of International Development, 16(5), 681-692.

Wearing, S., Deville, A., & Lyons, K. (2008). The volunteer's journey through leisure into the self. In K. Lyons & S. Wearing (Eds.), Journeys of discovery in volunteer tourism: international case study perspectives. London: CABI Publishing.

Wearing, S., & Wearing, M. (1999). Decommodifying ecotourism: Rethinking global-local interactions with host communities.

Nancy McGehee, PhD., Virginia Tech University

 We hope you enjoyed this edition’s Research Forum!  If you have any questions or comments, please submit your questions to The Voluntourist Newsletter or or e-mail Jessica at jessica.aquino@asu.edu.

See you next issue!

Nancy McGehee , Ph.D.
Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg VA
nmcgehee@vt.edu

For more Study & Research Articles visit Dr. McGehee's VolunTourism Research Forum>>>

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