‘My dark heaven’: Hidden voices in orphanage tourism

Bott, Esther

Abstract

Literature on orphanage tourism considers the motives of Western volunteers and the problematic nature of their compulsion to ‘help’ vulnerable children in the Global South. Orphanage tourism is also increasingly adopted into ‘rescue ideologies’ (Howard, 2016) and anti-trafficking/’modern slavery’ campaigns. The perspectives of children involved, however, are missing from these discourses. This article draws on original empirical data to explore the narratives of young Nepali adults who lived in Kathmandu orphanages as children. Through these narratives, the article explores the diverse complexities of the residents’ experiences of volunteer tourism and NGO ‘rescue’, and the shortcomings of recent ‘neo-abolitionist’ frameworks. The article argues that such framings are routinely oversimplified and that a more nuanced and contextualised empirical exploration is urgently needed.

Citation

Bott, E. (2021). ‘My dark heaven’: Hidden voices in orphanage tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 87, Article 103110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103110

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 31, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 14, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 13, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 15, 2022
• Journal: Annals of Tourism Research
• Print ISSN: 0160-7383
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 87
• Article Number: 103110
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103110
• Keywords: Orphanage tourism in Nepal, ‘Paper orphans’, NGO rescue, Modern slavery, Childhood, Child trafficking
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5098652
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160738320302541
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: ‘My dark heaven’: Hidden voices in orphanage tourism; Journal Title: Annals of Tourism Research; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2020.103110