Confronting the white elephant: International volunteering and racial (dis)advantage

Benjamin J. Lough and Janet Carter-Black
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Benjamin J. Lough: School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA and Centre for Social Development in Africa Faculty of Humanities University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Janet Carter-Black: School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois, USA

Progress in Development Studies, 2015, vol. 15, issue 3, 207-220

Abstract: This retrospective study with nine volunteer-sending organizations from six countries assesses how race influences the aid recipients’ internalized sense of power and agency. Methods include a combination of 24 structured staff-member interviews, 59 community-member interviews, and 83 quantitative surveys. From the perspective of intended aid recipients, there is a strong association between race and: (i) resources, (ii) knowledge and expertise, and (iii) trust. Practice implications recommend strategies to shift the power balance and to change disempowered racial perceptions, including critical conscious-raising, strengths-based dialogue, and polemic discourse about the mutuality of exchange.

Keywords: race; resources; volunteering; power; neo-colonialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:prodev:v:15:y:2015:i:3:p:207-220

DOI: 10.1177/1464993415578983

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