CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Dunyak, Talia Ashbrook |
|---|---|
| Title | Mission to Help: A Post-Colonial Analysis of UMC Mission Trips as a Form of Voluntourism |
| Summary | This thesis explores the ways in which the United Methodist Church’s (UMC) short-term mission trips navigate their work and relationships with host communities in Latin America. International Relations has historically neglected religious phenomena and their impacts on politics and development; however, this work attempts to examine how short-term mission trips are representative of micro-level interaction of development. The data was collected through interviews with mission trip leaders who conduct trips from the United States to Latin America. The themes discussed include the importance and meaning of community and the ways in which implicit and explicit evangelism function during these trips. This thesis also examines the neo-colonial understandings that mission leaders hold and how the UMC and mission leaders respond to such critiques. A story of reciprocity emerges between the hosts and volunteers demonstrating that both hosts and volunteers benefit from such trips, albeit in differing ways. Understanding short-term mission trips and how the leaders of such trips portray and think about their work remains important as voluntourism and mission trips continue to garner public support and participation. Through an understanding of the politics of the everyday, the individuals on these trips play a role in both subverting and reinforcing existing neo-colonial power structures. |
| Supervisor | Strausz, Erzsebet |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/dunyak_talia.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University