I read the article when you first wrote it but was happy to see it again.
I was reminded of two related problems that tie in to the importance of asking ourselves whose ends we are really serving when we leave home to volunteer. Sometimes it might help people more if we just stay home.
First, I read an article some years ago about the problems raised by 'voluntourism.' The article described how people pay to volunteer in some exotic location, perhaps as individuals, perhaps as a program organized by a school, and then arrive in the place eager to be given work to do, to feel the gratification of arriving supposedly to fill needs. The hosting organization, on the other side, really needs that fee money but doesn't need unskilled labor at all, as they have plenty of actual residents for that sort of work. So they end up needing to host the out-of-towners and find things for volunteers to do, like painting the same building over and over.
The second case is connected to the idea of going somewhere just to listen. Again, does the place one is going really want more people to come around to listen? I have just finished reading a book about the aftermath of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The communities of the grieving family members found themselves needing to beg well meaning people from out of town please not to come to bear witness. An example was two busloads of kids from a private school in New York who wanted to be part of things but would have been a burden to a community already handling as much as they could handle.
We're indebted again to you for revisiting this inspiring piece on "Reductive seduction", written in Jan. , 2016. Since then, what you called there "cutting edge" approaches like "restorative justice" have taken on increased force and significance. In this regard, you reference the op ed by Paul Tullis, "Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice" that deserves more attention; because this article, written in Jan., '13, should be updated and reinforced by Howard Zehr, et.al., "The Big Book of Restorative Justice" (2015) that's part of "The Justice and Peacebuilding" series. Also, there's "Transitional and Transformative Justice", ed. Matthew Evans (2019). The latter contains an excellent ch. by Daire McGill, "Tackling Structural Violence Through the Transformative Justice Framework". I especially like this essay because it advocates TJ's focus on "empowering local communities to challenge prevailing structures of economic, political and social power in society." This fits into your recognition that while violence is a structural problem, this doesn't render it so abstract that it can't be confronted through community organization. A final thought about this is that since all of this was published, Bishop Tutu died and a revival of this subject could be viewed as a testament to his enduring message through the TRC in SA as well as his book, "No Future Without Forgiveness." Thanks again for giving this opportunity to think again about vital issues that must be addressed by each of us. Love as always, DD
I read the article when you first wrote it but was happy to see it again.
I was reminded of two related problems that tie in to the importance of asking ourselves whose ends we are really serving when we leave home to volunteer. Sometimes it might help people more if we just stay home.
First, I read an article some years ago about the problems raised by 'voluntourism.' The article described how people pay to volunteer in some exotic location, perhaps as individuals, perhaps as a program organized by a school, and then arrive in the place eager to be given work to do, to feel the gratification of arriving supposedly to fill needs. The hosting organization, on the other side, really needs that fee money but doesn't need unskilled labor at all, as they have plenty of actual residents for that sort of work. So they end up needing to host the out-of-towners and find things for volunteers to do, like painting the same building over and over.
The second case is connected to the idea of going somewhere just to listen. Again, does the place one is going really want more people to come around to listen? I have just finished reading a book about the aftermath of the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The communities of the grieving family members found themselves needing to beg well meaning people from out of town please not to come to bear witness. An example was two busloads of kids from a private school in New York who wanted to be part of things but would have been a burden to a community already handling as much as they could handle.
We're indebted again to you for revisiting this inspiring piece on "Reductive seduction", written in Jan. , 2016. Since then, what you called there "cutting edge" approaches like "restorative justice" have taken on increased force and significance. In this regard, you reference the op ed by Paul Tullis, "Can Forgiveness Play a Role in Criminal Justice" that deserves more attention; because this article, written in Jan., '13, should be updated and reinforced by Howard Zehr, et.al., "The Big Book of Restorative Justice" (2015) that's part of "The Justice and Peacebuilding" series. Also, there's "Transitional and Transformative Justice", ed. Matthew Evans (2019). The latter contains an excellent ch. by Daire McGill, "Tackling Structural Violence Through the Transformative Justice Framework". I especially like this essay because it advocates TJ's focus on "empowering local communities to challenge prevailing structures of economic, political and social power in society." This fits into your recognition that while violence is a structural problem, this doesn't render it so abstract that it can't be confronted through community organization. A final thought about this is that since all of this was published, Bishop Tutu died and a revival of this subject could be viewed as a testament to his enduring message through the TRC in SA as well as his book, "No Future Without Forgiveness." Thanks again for giving this opportunity to think again about vital issues that must be addressed by each of us. Love as always, DD