Abstract

This research explores the host experience of volunteer tourism and presents a case study of local community farmers in the San Miguel Escobar Cooperative near Antigua, Guatemala. In this study, we sought to understand the adoption of role identities by cooperative farmers in their interactions with volunteer tourists and how this affects notions of self and self-esteem. Borrowing from prominent identity scholarship through the last few decades, we examined the proposition that, through the volunteer tourism experience, the host is able to build efficacy- and worth-based self-esteem. Twelve photo elicitation interviews were conducted with coffee-farming members of the Cooperative. Our paper describes and analyzes the farmers’ journeys through the various roles they engaged in with the visitors. The hosts’ experiences proved to be a journey that bred feelings of nervousness and fear, but positive views of the self and improved self-esteem emerged in the analysis. The results demonstrate the importance of micro-sociological empirical studies of role identities and self-other relationships in volunteer tourism and contributes towards theory building as well.

摘要

本研究探讨了志愿者旅游的东道主体验，并介绍了危地马拉安提瓜附近的 San Miguel Escobar 合作社当地社区农民的案例研究。在这项研究中，我们试图了解合作农民在与志愿者游客的互动中采用角色身份，以及这如何影响自我和自尊的概念。借用过去几十年著名的身份研究，我们研究了这样一个命题，即通过志愿者旅游体验，主人能够建立以效能和价值为基础的自尊。对合作社的咖啡种植成员进行了 12 次照片启发式访谈。我们的论文描述和分析了农民通过他们与游客扮演的各种角色的旅程。东道主的经历被证明是一段让人感到紧张和恐惧的旅程，但分析中出现了对自我的积极看法和自尊的提高。结果证明了对志愿者旅游中角色身份和自我-他者关系的微观社会学实证研究的重要性，并有助于理论建设。