Reading “Power and Privilege”, an anthropological research paper by Michelle Camacho, has allowed me the opportunity to analyze and reflect upon my own service learning experience as a tour guide in Costa Rica this past summer. In her paper, Camacho explores power relations between mainly white, middle-upper class students, to those of Mexican migrant workers in various service-learning contexts that are meant to accompany her class on U.S.-Mexico border relations.

This paper, although much more academic in its format than other I’ve read previously, centers on some topics that I researched rather extensively before accepting my job position with Rustic Pathways; those of privilege and travel volunteerism, also known as voluntourism. Rustic Pathways is a multinational teen tour company with operations in over 19 different countries on 5 different continents. Over 75% of their travel programs are advertised as largely “community serviced based”, while many other action adventure and language-immersion based programs also include a certain amount of community service hours as well. Continue reading →