A plug for my new book, co-written with Peter Smith. It is out in May, but available to pre-order. Snippets to appear on this blog.
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415749015/
“Butcher and Smith’s fascinating study goes beyond the
existing debates on volunteer tourism to consider the changing nature of
contemporary politics and international development. They explore how volunteer
tourism involves the search for social meaning against the shrinking of the
public political imagination. Volunteer
tourism assumes significance because of how politics and development have
become re-orientated around projects of therapeutic self-realisation as opposed
to national material transformation. Indeed they suggest that volunteer tourism
outsources the responsibilities of cultivating global citizenship onto the
South. The book raises important questions for those of us seeking to
understand North-South relations and politics today.”
- Dr Vanessa Pupavac, School of Politics and International Relations,
University of Nottingham, UK
"Butcher and Smith have provided the definitive
unpacking and critical analysis of the mainstreaming of volunteer tourism.
Reading this book may change your life more than doing a gap year and will make
you think about volunteer tourism differently and with insight."
-Professor Kevin Hannam, Leeds Beckett University, UK