Ours to Explore investigates voluntourism's past and present, uncovering the complicated roots of the modern global phenomenon.
The tourism business is one of the largest industries in the world, and the two-billion-dollar volunteer and service-based travel market has been identified as the future of tourism. "Voluntourism," or the combination of volunteer service and tourism, is valorised by governments, NGO's, travellers, and the thousands of non- and for-profits that facilitate trips, as the best of what tourism can be.
Despite the accolades, the very same flaws rampant in early voluntourism, including xenophobia, racism, paternalism, colonialist attitudes, and a 'west knows best' mentality, are pervasive. Framed as a service experience, an alternative spring break, or a religious mission trip, this "moral economy" isn't all that successful. What well-meaning Americans and others are doing by going away to give back is unintentionally, but actively, hurting developing economies and damaging communities.
Ours to Explore: Privilege, Power, and the Paradox of Voluntourism investigates voluntourism's past and present, uncovering the complicated roots of the modern global phenomenon from the eighteenth century through today. Pippa Biddle offers an alternative to the voluntourism farce, presenting a plan for how the service based travel industry can break the cycle of exploitation to create more equitable travel experiences, and suggests strategies for travellers who want to actually improve the places they visit. Ours to Explore covers new ground by offering a fascinating look into the human impulse towards charity and provides the necessary context for why it is backfiring.
About the Author
Pippa Biddled is a New York-based writer, researcher, speaker, and activist.
Industry Reviews
"Fascinating, informative, and a beautifully written book. . . . We learn something of the unscrupulous exploitation of young people by some of the eco-companies in the volunteer industry today. It offers really good advice to young people wanting to volunteer but uncertain how to go about it."-Jane Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace
"When you know better, you do better-and this book makes us all better in how we navigate the world."-Tammy Tibbetts, coauthor of Impact: A Step-by-Step Plan to Create the World You Want to Live In
"Pippa Biddle courageously shows that voluntourism may not be what it seems. Ours to Explore is a powerful read for anyone who wants to change the world away from home."-Alex Banayan, author of the international best seller The Third Door
"An essential read for anyone who loves to travel and hopes to make a positive impact in the world. . . . A masterful storyteller, Biddle's stories are full of compelling characters and intriguing experiences that bring the impacts of voluntourism to life. Ours to Explore inspires readers to think critically about the best ways to turn good intentions into actions that produce meaningful change."-Ty Tashiro, author of The Science of Happily Ever After
"Pippa Biddle doesn't demonize voluntourists-she's been one, and so have others interviewed in Ours to Explore. Their stories show how this rite of passage for those wanting to help can lead to so much harm. If you're contemplating broadening your horizons by volunteering abroad, broaden your mind first by reading this book."-Tina Rosenberg, cofounder of Solutions Journalism Network
"A brilliant must-read for anyone who has a passion for exploration and doing good. Biddle has a beautiful way of weaving a rich narrative together for a thoughtful, compelling, and raw critique of an industry that's long overdue for reform."-Kelley Louise, founder of Impact Travel Alliance
"Pippa Biddle unwraps the history of what we now call voluntourism, showing us that what's billed as 'development' is really exploitation. . . . Ours to Explore should make us all reevaluate what we do abroad and why."-Sarah Enelow-Snyder, travel industry journalist
"Biddle offers a blistering takedown of voluntourism and a sweeping reckoning with the omnipresent force of colonialism. Her case studies of abuse and malpractice within the industry are damning and revelatory. Ours to Explore will inspire critical discussions about building a world where Black and Brown people of the Global South can live free of domination, plunder, and the white Western gaze."-Nikhil Goyal, sociologist at the University of Cambridge
"Ours to Explore is an unputdownable exploration into the collateral damage of good intentions. Immersive, vivid, and thorough, it is required reading for those who seek to help in contexts that are not their own."-Elizabeth Greenwood, author of Love Lockdown: Dating, Sex, and Marriage in America's Prison System
"Ours to Explore combines Biddle's experiences as a former voluntourist with real-world examples and perspectives to clearly demonstrate that just because international volunteering feels good doesn't necessarily make it so. An important and accessible read."-Noelle Sullivan, author of The Business of Good Intentions: Reframing the Global Health Volunteering Debate
