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Congratulations to

Kara Foley

Arts & Sciences

International Relations

Honors Thesis Faculty Advisor: Francine D'Amico

Thesis Title:

Voluntourism in Guatemala: Harmful or Helpful?

Kara Foley

This project analyzes volunteer tourism, or "voluntourism", conducted by Westerners in Guatemala, and its subsequent effects on local communities. It explores the intentions, motivations, and goals behind voluntourism and argues that in order for it to be more successful and helpful to Guatemalan communities, amendments must be made to ensure effective communication and cultural exchanges. In order to find the most reliable data on Guatemalan voluntourism, I traveled to the Sacatepéquez Department of Guatemala to conduct interviews with Guatemalan residents, volunteers, and staff of volunteer organizations. This was thankfully funded by the Honors Program. I was inspired to conduct this research myself after volunteering at a school in Santa María de Jesús, Guatemala, during the summer of 2017. This project was awarded the Ben and Marcia Baldanza Award for Outstanding Student Research Paper as part of the Maxwell School.

Links to Project Materials:

https://files.emailmeform.com/742180/H2QvXp4G/Honors%20Thesis_%20Kara%20Foley.docx

Additional support provided by: Honors Funding, SOURCE Grant

 

College of Arts & Sciences 2020, Social Science Projects 2020, 2020