Going the distance
Endurance philanthropy, spectacle, and development in Central America
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5761914 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rebecca Clouser (Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology, corresponding author), Jillian M Rickly (0000-0002-2150-3294, Nottingham University Business School, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 373-388 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Tourism Geographies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-6688 • E-ISSN: 1470-1340 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14616688.2024.2314550 |
| OpenAlex | W4391749743 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 29 |
The increasing popularity of fusing adventure, humanitarianism, and travel has received attention from scholars within the fields of leisure and tourism studies, particularly regarding widespread activities such as volunteer tourism. Fewer have examined the phenomenon that we refer to as endurance philanthropy, in which participants journey long distances under challenging conditions to increase awareness and raise funds for specific causes. As more and more people become attuned to the idea, it is essential to interrogate the power dynamics and development discourses that frame such campaigns. To begin this necessary conversation, this paper investigates one subset of the endurance philanthropy movement: participants who have journeyed from North America to Central America to raise money and awareness for causes situated within the destination region. Using the lenses of spectacle and critical development, we analyze online media produced both by and about these journeyers. Our findings highlight key themes that weave across and through these events: actions not words, expedition completed, grit and determination, and donor commitment. We argue that these events-while emphasizing solidarity and advocating for social change-ultimately undermine the potential for such transformation due to the spectacular, individualizing, and apolitical characteristics of the campaigns. This results in the reproduction of neoliberal self-help models of progress, which reinforce the status quo and downplay larger structural issues that keep poverty and inequality in place
Aesthetics · Conversation · Economic growth · Economics · Gentrification · Political science · Popularity · Power (physics · Sociology · Solidarity · Spectacle · Status quo · Tourism · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Outdoor and Experiential Education · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development
Long Journey to Justice
‘Doing development’
Anti-Politics Machine
They Were So Alive!
Rule of Experts
Central American Solidarity, Then and Now
The Ironic Spectator
Development, Post-, Anti-, and Populist
Traveling for a cause
Save the World in a Week
Using constant comparison method and qualitative data to understand participants' experiences at the nexus of tourism, sport and charity events
Poor children on Tinder’ and their Barbie Saviours
Moving beyond individualism in leisure theory
Journeys of Discovery in Volunteer Tourism
Spectacle and adventure philanthropy
Volunteer tourism and the popular humanitarian gaze
The Theatricality of Humanitarianism
Decolonising the 'autonomy of affect' in volunteer tourism encounters
Does Multiculturalism Menace? Governance, Cultural Rights and the Politics of Identity in Guatemala
Encountering Development
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |