Por parte de un usuario externo

In addition to performing a role as a hospitable host, indigenous members also display overt signs of indigeneity to conform to Western imaginaries of indigenous people. An example of this is the Tsa’chila group magnifying and emphasising their ‘otherness’ to the volunteers, by agreeing that all members in the presence of volunteers should conform to a specific homogeneous visual Tsa’chila appearance. As Rafael explains:

“It is important because we like to show to volunteers our traditional clothes, as this is important to show our identity to them. They want to see and

experience things that are different to their home countries. Also, this helps us to preserve our customs.” (Focus group 7)

The process of creating a particular visual image of difference in the minds of the volunteers illustrates the power of the tourist gaze, encouraging hosts to conform to particular signs of indigeneity. The result is limited space for indigenous people to illustrate the complexity and hybridity of their lives to the volunteers. The adoption of this practice whilst in the presence of volunteers, is thus indicative of how host members perceive volunteers as tourists, despite any discursive creation otherwise by the volunteer tourism industry. The use of indigenous dress to conform to a particular notion of indigeneity is not uncommon in the tourism industry. For example, Crain (1996) traces how the Quimsenas in the Andes dress to produce an authentic look of ‘Indian-ness’, inspired by colonial imagery and approved by the elite, to gain a competitive advantage for employment in the service industry. They therefore employ ‘strategic essentialism’ in utilising the preoccupation of global elites with their authenticity to their own advantage, therefore turning the gaze back on the coloniser. The simulated otherness employed within the Tsa’chila group can be seen as a further use of this technique, in this case creating an appealing image for volunteer tourists’ to consume.

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Figure 18. Tsa’chila displaying overt sign of indigeneity (Source: Author’s photograph)

Figures 17 and 18 illustrate how indigenous members conform visually, in the presence of volunteer tourists, to western imaginaries of indigenous people in order to satisfy the volunteer gaze. In addition to the visual signs of indigeneity, host members are also expected to possess a detailed knowledge of their cultural practices and locality, in accordance with the colonial fantasy of indigenous people being the gatekeepers to ancient cultural and environmental knowledge. Failure to perform such a role can result in negative feedback, as Ricardo in the Tsa’chila community recalls:

“An American woman chose me to be the guide of her group and asked some things that I didn't know, about my province and Tsa’chila culture. She said to me: “You are very bad as a guide”. I felt so bad in this moment, I wanted to drop out of the group. But I stayed and learnt a lot more, and now can talk a lot about my culture and the place.”

Similarly, within the Kichwa community it was noted how volunteers had a specific notion of indigeneity that they were interested in learning about, and which was subsequently catered for. As Alexis in the Kichwa community notes:

“The volunteers want to learn about our relationship with the land and community, and so I always take volunteers on a guided walk where I emphasise this to them. For example, I talk about Mingas and how we work together in the community, also about the plants and their medical properties.

They just go to the pharmacy, so they find it interesting learning about what we can get from nature”

The importance of a sense of community (Conran, 2011) and having a close relationship with the land (Vrasti, 2013) is frequently identified as an appealing aspect of volunteer tourism. Butcher and Smith (2015) note that this reflects the feeling of remoteness and impersonality in Western society, or Gesellschaft. Similarly, MacCannell (1973), in his thesis, argues how tourists search for authenticity in others times and places, as opposed to the inauthenticity of Western modes of life. Alexis therefore appears to respond strategically to this desire by emphasising the importance of community and land to indigenous people, whilst not divulging information which would contradict this perception. The indigenous members in both communities therefore responded to volunteers’ romanticised notions of indigeneity, performing and emphasising aspects of their culture, an act which reinforces rather than challenges this imaginary. It became evident during the research process that the Tsa’chila were keen to learn the expectations that volunteers have of them, as can be seen from the following extract from my field diary:

Analysis Field Diary Extract: 15th _{August 2015}

“Throughout my time in the community, the Tsa’chila group leader has asked my opinions on a number of issues: from whether they should use soap in the river, to which of their cultural practices they should emphasise to volunteers. It is apparent he believes the group need to project a particular image to the volunteers, if they are going to make the project

more successful.”

Figure 19. Analysis field diary extract 5

The indigenous hosts therefore appear eager to gain extra knowledge to be able to conform to the image that Western volunteers associate with indigenous people, be it environmentally conscious or mystical cultural practices. Goffman (1959: 52) notes how:

143 “in those interactions where the individual presents a product to others, he will tend to show them only the end product, and they will be led into judging him on the basis of something that has been finished, polished, and packaged.”

The self-presentation of indigenous hosts appears to the volunteers as natural, rather than one that has been refined and developed over time through training and previous interactions.

Indigenous hosts adopt a performative role as a response to market forces, but also in a desire to present their community and culture positively to a global audience. Consequently, the volunteer project is interpreted as a means to counteract negative stereotypes propagated within Ecuadorian society, such as an association of indigenous people with being “dirty, unclean or backward” (Swanson, 2007: 709). Typical statements, illustrative of this, included:

“I hope volunteers have a good time and see that we are good people. I think it’s good they can see that the negative things people say about us is not true.” [Sarah, Kichwa community]

“I think its good that volunteers come here. They don’t come because they want to laugh at us, but because they want to learn about our culture. Some people in the community don’t seem to realise this. I believe we show people that they should be proud of being Tsa’chila.” [Lionel, Tsa’chila community] These statements by indigenous project members in both communities, emphasise the importance of their culture being respected and presented in a positive light to volunteers. The transformation of the culture and community into a product to be sold within the global capitalist system is therefore undertaken on condition that negative stereotypes are not propagated and reinforced. This has important implications for how the project is organised, as it is ensures that efforts are made to create a positive image of the communities within the minds of volunteers. In their analysis of volunteer tourism in an indigenous Maori community in New Zealand, McIntosh and Zahra (2007: 553) note how volunteers learnt about gang culture and illegal narcotics. The result is that it allowed them to gain an understanding of the community that was

“authentic, genuine, [and] reflexive” in comparison to that gained by mere tourists. Conversely, within the Tsa’chila and Kichwa communities, volunteers are shielded from the less reputable members of the community in the name of protecting the communities’ image. As a consequence the volunteers only interact with the community’s elite, limiting their potential for a more rounded or in-depth understanding of community life.