Relación entre elección en tarea forzada, tipo de situación, estrategia

The lack of literature on the topic of ISL experiences which focuses on the impact of race indicates that there is much room for growth in understanding how the perceptions and

experiences of volunteers from the Global North and members of the host community in the Global South are impacted by race. Based on the information that was gathered through this research, there are several recommendations for ISL trips to enhance the knowledge and

preparation of their future participants. The first recommendation is similar to recommendations suggested by numerous other scholars in the field of ISL, which is to give volunteers good comprehensive preparation before the trip and to engage students in discussions before, during and after their trip which encourage critical analysis and reflection (Feagan & Boylan, 2016; Grusky, 2000). To add to this, I would recommend that those in charge of the trip preparation, make sure that there are discussions which specifically address race and privilege (and gender) and the ways in which they play into the North-South relationships involved in ISL. In this vein, it is important to acknowledge that intersectionality always plays a role in ISL. Whether it has to do with race, gender, socioeconomic status, nationality or religion each participant will have numerous social categorizations that will shape their experiences. Therefore the discussions that take place before, during and after the trips should include recognition in some manner of the importance of intersectionality in ISL.

It will also help to have discussions with students regarding the racialized politics of the host country, which could be very different from what they are used to in their home country.

64 This will also help to prepare participants as best as possible for any racial or gender comments and/or questions that could come up during their trip, that without preparation could be construed in a negative or offensive way. The importance of these kinds of discussions was illustrated during group discussions in the May field trip where the topic of race was raised in a significant way after the incident on the build-site. ISLs can generate many questions and can offer many teachable moments for participants, it is important to take advantage of those opportunities to ensure that volunteers are engaging in these trips with as much knowledge as possible about what they are getting into.

Racial politics are inherent in Central America and therefore discussions of race and relationships between Canadian volunteers and the host community is a unique and important space that is created in ISL exchanges. They allow for a deeper consideration of how power, knowledge, and injustice are entwined with race and can help improve ISL to be a more effective pedagogy of global engagement (Kothari, 2006b). Having these conversations before, during and after the trips will be useful in helping to make ISL more effective and can raise awareness for both Northern volunteers and Southern host community members. One way that this could be done is through critical global citizenship as proposed by Andreotti (2006), in which participants are informed about the injustices and inequalities present as a result of the complex systems and structures that maintain exploitation of the host communities in the South. This can encourage participants to be more critical in their engagement and understanding of their experiences in terms of factors including race, privilege and gender. However, it is also essential to include the responses of members of host communities in the South (Kothari, 2006b).

Another recommendation which was suggested by one of the Habitat for Humanity partners that was interviewed in El Salvador was to provide future participants the opportunity to

65 speak to past participants who have experience and knowledge that they can share regarding what the volunteer experience is like. The key informant specifically suggested that;

“If participants don’t know what they are there for maybe they can talk to people that have been [to El Salvador] before, have experience volunteering [internationally] or people who have volunteered in their hometown because they have a little bit more experience. . . because in that sense it won’t be such a shock, and they will also know what to expect and what kinds of clothes to bring, what kind of activities they are going to be doing, the weather and things like that” (Key informant #2).

This could involve dedicating some time before the trip to have a small group of past participants come to speak to the future participants and share their experience and stories from their trips as well as any advice or suggestions they have for first time volunteers. This could give future students the chance to ask any questions that they have and to have an idea of what they are there to do. In these pre-trip discussions, the topic of race as well as privilege should be addressed in order to make participants more conscious of their racialization behaviours and perceptions going into the trips, as well as how they may be perceived by members of the host community. Lastly, through more carefully developed relationships, sending organizations and the project leaders in the community could be encouraged to develop ways to prepare participants to be more conscious of the perspectives they may carry and make more transparent their hidden racialization narratives.