Abstract
The central aim of this thesis is to examine spirituality in international volunteer tourism by linking it to the concept of pilgrimage. It argues that pilgrimage offers a stage for rejuvenation in the contemporary era. In the 21st century, the concept of pilgrimage travel re-emerged in tourism with a new identity that goes beyond the idea of pilgrimage as a journey to a sacred place. Building on this recognition, this thesis explores how the experiences of international volunteer tourists can be part of the rejuvenation of the concept of pilgrimage in the contemporary world using the concept of the spiritual journey, conceptualised beyond the narrow window of religious pilgrimage, religious and/or spiritual tourism. In addition, this thesis bridges the gap between current research focusing on international volunteer tourists in a Western context by adding the voices of international volunteer tourists in a non-Western context.
This thesis employed an ethnographic approach to study online communities known as netnography. It is a narrative inquiry with a methodology for inquiring into an understanding of human experience through stories. As such, the result is presented in the form of ‘portraits’ (presenting each participant’s rich story as a unique individual journey) from eight international volunteer tourists who participated in international volunteering projects through AIESEC (a non-political, independent, and not-for-profit international volunteering organisation). Individual portraits were compiled using field text from interview transcripts and other information, including social media posts, articles from blogging and fieldnotes. The results were rewritten into a discussion describing group narratives and the themes that wove through them. To unveil the elements and the process of experiencing spirituality in international volunteer tourism, this thesis adopted The Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell (1949) as a metaphorical lens.
Through the analysis of the eight in-depth individual research portraits, this thesis demonstrates the rejuvenation of pilgrimage interwoven in the meaning, ritual, and transformative experience of international volunteer tourism. This thesis also shows that (dis)connectedness is the very core of the participants’ understanding and perceptions of spirituality. (dis)connectedness led them to reflect upon and learn deeply about themselves and their lives. Additionally, this thesis demonstrates how volunteering can be a more complex and nuanced concept than the dominant Eurocentric knowledge depicts it as. Thus, what the thesis
pushes forward are new narratives of viewing volunteers that go beyond the dominant Western narrative.
Based on the findings, the conceptualisation of pilgrimage in contemporary tourism goes beyond the idea of a journey to a religious place, that is stepping beyond religion. However, this does not imply a replacement of pilgrimage by contemporary tourism. Rather, an expansion of the existing concept of pilgrimage is necessary, where the notion of spirituality is emphasised. Consequently, this thesis adopts a contemporary definition of spirituality that while seeing links to religion is not beholden to it. In this way, this thesis pushes forward understandings of contemporary pilgrimage and spirituality. This thesis calls for the recognition of the complex interlinkages between tourism, religion, and spirituality that find a voice in the multifaceted nature of pilgrimage that we see around us today.