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Photo: Moving Mountains Trust
OVER ONE MILLION PEOPLE in the United States volunteered internationally in 2008, an increase from 145,000 in 2004. While a seemingly positive trend, there’s a caveat: Most of these volunteers are WEIRD.
That is, the typical volunteer is white, educated, industrialized, rich, and from a democratic culture. The concept of WEIRD people has been discussed in psychology, with some researchers positing that perhaps white undergraduate students are not indicative of worldwide views (Jones, 2010). However, I thought it was incredibly applicable in international volunteering contexts as well. In a study by Lough (2010), over half of the sample of volunteers had a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 88% were white. In addition, McBride and Lough (2010) found that white people were more than twice as likely to volunteer abroad than black people. And 1 in 3 volunteers lived in a home with an income of over $100,000.
While this seems like common sense and perhaps unavoidable (families with higher levels of income would have more time and financial resources to put towards volunteering), how does having such a homogenous volunteer base affect relationships with those of other cultures? In a study by Cross-Cultural Solutions (2009), one of the largest international volunteer organizations, they surveyed alumni volunteers on their experiences volunteering abroad.
Volunteers thought they were most effective while promoting cross-cultural interaction; caring for infants and children in daycare facilities; tutoring or teaching youth and adults; and collecting, preparing, or distributing foods, crafts, or other goods. 25% of volunteers believed their work could have been performed by a local community member, but only 11% believed a local could have done it better. That is, only 11% of the volunteer base felt a local could have taught in their local community, cared for their own children, and engaged in cultural practices better than a volunteer with limited knowledge of the host community. Only 18% believed they caused problems within the host community, and 6% felt that the community did not want or need them.
This begs the question: Why do volunteers see themselves as equally or more capable in practices rooted in culture and lifestyle? As the majority of international volunteers are WEIRD, are they unconsciously perpetuating ideas of white privilege and creating unequal relationships? In her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (2003), Peggy McIntosh states:
Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow them to be more like us.
From this idea, you could draw the conclusions that white people can afford to be oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color without feeling any penalty, and that white people experience little trepidation about ignoring the perspectives and abilities of people of other races.
As a result, international volunteers may not only be ignorant of other cultures, making them unhelpful volunteers; they could be unconsciously ignoring the perspectives and ideas of the very cultures they’re trying to help. This leads to the implementation of Western solutions for problems that might not be culturally relevant to host communities.
The situation may also play out in reverse: Members of developing countries are used to accommodating the perspectives of other races, learning the customs, dress, and language of other countries, particularly the United States and other Western nations, if they wish to receive foreign aid. Thus they cater to us to make sure we feel comfortable while working abroad.
This hit home for me while I was in Kenya last summer. I asked our partner organization, Abba, a local elementary school / orphanage, when would be a good time for me to come in and teach. The reply was a resounding “anytime!” However, I found out later in the day that they had exams for the next two weeks, and my presence would have been distracting at best. I asked our Kenyan advisor, Carol, if Kenyans don’t use the word “no.” She said Kenyans most definitely say no to each other. When I asked why they wouldn’t say it to me, she replied, “Because we don’t think Americans can handle the word no.”
Volunteering can also push Westerners toward false perceptions about the people they’re intending to help. In “I’ve come to help: Can tourism and altruism mix?” Benjamin Sichel (2006) points out that volunteers assume that since they are wealthy and privileged, they will be useful in volunteer work. This can lead them to believe the local population must be too stupid or ignorant to teach their children, work in hospitals, or build houses, if volunteers are needed to help them do so. The assumption is created that wealthy volunteers know better than the culture and people they’re serving. It’s damaging to our cross-cultural relationships when we don’t view developing countries as equal to our own.
I’d like to see more consideration and discussion of these issues before we continue to ramp up the numbers of volunteers we send into service abroad. It can start with volunteers themselves — before you dive in, think of your adventure as a learning experience first and an altruistic mission second. 
References
- Cross-Cultural Solutions. (2009) International Volunteering. Retrieved March 15th, 2012, from http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/about/recognized-leader/international-volunteering-study.aspx.
- Jones, D. (2010). Psychology. A WEIRD view of human nature skews psychologists’ studies. Science (New York, N.Y.), 328(5986), 1627.
- Lough, B. J. (2011). International Volunteerism in the United States, 2008. Center for Social Development, 10(11). Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/33744391/International-Volunteering-from-the-United-States.
- McBride, A. & Lough, B. J. (2010). Access to international volunteering. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 21(2), 195-208. doi:10.1002/nml.20020.
- McIntosh, P. (2003). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. In S. Plous, S. Plous (Eds.), Understanding prejudice and discrimination (pp. 191-196). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
- Sichel, B. I’ve Come to Help: Can Tourism and Altuism Mix? (2006, Nov. 2). Briarpatch Magazine. Retrieved from http://briarpatchmagazine.com/.
Maddy Vonhoff
Recent college graduate with a degree in psychology and a French minor. Interested in culture, language, traveling, and encouraging global citizenship in others.
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I’m really glad you’re opening this conversation and I hope you continue it with others. I’ve seen this more times than I can count and often run into volunteers who’ve gained nothing but an even bigger head from their experience. I avoid the volunteer types as much as I can while traveling. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is something we will be able to remedy and I believe it results from a mentality most college grads have of being ready to take on the world. It’s a good quality in general, but when it’s not tempered with some real life experience it can lead to wanting to force their idea of perfect onto others who would not appreciate that way of life. So as long as we’re encouraging this “altruism” in people we’ve convinced know everything, I don’t see an end to it and the world will still turn. I tip my hat to you and some of the commenters who have been open minded enough to recognize the situation and will be far less likely to perpetuate it.
I am surprised that there were no ‘tags’ to this post.
Natalie Huggins do posts usually have tags?
Jason, thank you for your comments, I really appreciate them! That’s why I believe that unless we pair volunteer activities, with reflection and education, we are relying too much on volunteers to come to that conclusion on their own. I’ve seen examples where volunteers believe “there’s no way I could be racist, because I’m helping Africans because they can’t help themselves!” I think this is why we need to increase opportunities for low-income and minority students to travel or else it will be a continuous cycle of rich helping the poor.
I’d like to keep continuing this conversation but it’s hard to know where to go from here! I’ve spoken in some classrooms at my university about it but not sure what to do now
I was kind of afraid you might be coming at it from that angle. I don’t think getting low-income and minorities into the pool is really going to do anything to help you there. They aren’t the ones who need to see what poor is like and probably won’t have as much to gain from the experience. I grew up a bit on the poor side and when I started traveling and running into these well-to-do recent college grads it was a humorous experience to say the least. Of course, I’m an old country boy, so I’ve found myself relating to the locals better than some.
Just as an example, many years ago my boss and I were invited to a holiday that included celebratory fire. I thought this was normal and promptly said “heck ya, pass me a gun!” While he thought this was barbaric and horrible. He was from the North with a prestigious degree in something or other from an Ivy League School blah blah blah. His thought was “if only these people were more civilized….”
He now lives and works as a business man in these uncivilized parts and seems to be very comfortable there. It’s part of a growing experience. I think the point of these activities is not for a fresh college grad to go save the world one baby or English word at a time, but rather to give them a better understanding of the real world so that they do have an understanding of others when they are in a position to make a real difference. In some ways it’s paired with education and reflection whether the volunteer wants it or not
But is it only about learning about what it is like to be poor? Isn’t it also about cultural exchange and gaining skills to live in a world that grows smaller every day? While Kenya has been shaped
by poverty, there is a culture outside of it that. We travel to England, Italy, France, etc for the culture, why can we not visit developing countries for the same purpose?
I disagree that people from low-income families don’t have as much to gain. My friend Monika almost didn’t make it to Kenya because of her financial status but through perseverance, she got to go and valued the experience more than anyone. Now she is going to Morocco in January through Peace Corps and I honestly believe she will be a driving force one day in encouraging mindful travel. Unfortunately in the international affairs field, you will not get jobs or internships unless you have travel experience and it’s hard to afford that. So if only wealthy white people get the jobs within the international affairs and global aid field, where does that leave us?
Of course WEIRD people have something to gain too from traveling in a developing country! But we have to make sure they walk away with the mentality that people are poor in developing countries because of info structure and circumstance, not a lack of intelligence or responsibility.
So if you don’t mind me asking, how did you afford to travel abroad?
Hmmm… I absolutely agree that everyone can gain from traveling experience and can contribute in cross cultural exchange. This happens quite frequently, but we’re discussing, or at least I was addressing, specifically the volunteer.
The volunteer is the person who, naturally goes in thinking they are there to better people. This isn’t to say that some go in looking for experiences to learn from, but many are of the “I know it all” mindset. I think someone else brought this up specifically in a comment earlier, but the volunteer goes in expecting to be the one that knows everything and the commenter noticed that after volunteering he/she went to learn and had a much better experience.
I guess my point to all this is to not try to judge the experience too much. You went for volunteer work, others may go for missionary work (regardless of your views on the issue, they are doing what they think is helping those same people), others go just for an adventure backpacking. These groups all gain from the experience and find their own way to do it.
Wether the travel is the backpacker exploring or the 3rd generation American going to meet their families, it’s all a cross cultural exchange and you may not want to destroy the good in an effort to make it better. I think opening the eyes of those you travel with that there is as much to learn as there is to teach is a wonderful thing, I question wether trying to push diversification into a group that is trying to find it on their own terms is the way to go.
My travels started with the military and continued on both in my career and for fun after I got out. I was on my third third world country when the boss I mentioned was graduating college and getting his boots wet for the first time. These were countries that I lived in for a year or longer and one of the things that I’ve found many travelers want to do is push their culture onto others instead of accepting and trying to work within a culture for mutual benefits.
Great article, and good to see so much discussion around this issue. Having been a volunteer myself, with wildlife conservation, I only see benefits from skilled volunteers whose objective is to build capacity where skills are lacking in a community. The skills are lacking generally due to a lack of resources for education and not due to a lack of motivation in the community. WEIRD type volunteer work, the way I see it, only benefits a community by providing funds from the organisation bringing the volunteers, and perhaps giving the locals something to have a laugh at! I think its essential that the WEIRDs understand that they are not helping the community, they are experiencing a different way of life through immersion. Also as you suggested Maddy, it would be far better to see volunteers coming from a much broader range of western society.
and sometimes WEIRD people take jobs from locals, building a school, painting a house, etc. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better for our plane ticket money to go to paying salaries of local workers to do this type of work. That would be a much different program but perhaps hard to sell because people don’t get the same fuzzy feelings
Fantastic article, Maddy. I spent a few years teaching abroad in Korea and Taiwan and noticed similar things. What would you recommend for someone who truly wanted to volunteer abroad and wanted to avoid WEIRD-type programs?
Thank you for reading! I would recommend a service learning program which combines volunteering with studying abroad which helps because as you volunteer, you take time to reflect, learn about globalization, culture, and perceptions of international volunteers. Also, ask questions of the organization you are volunteering with, how they came to this idea, who their partners are locally, what needs have the communities recognized, etc.