De Toeristische Route naar Zelfactualisering: De relatie tussen spiritualisme en neokolonialisme in vrijwilligerstoerisme naar Zuid-Afrika

Abstract

This study explores how the promotion of voluntourism to South Africa on the websites of Dutch travel organizations relates to the spiritual dimension of tourism. It also examines how the spiritual experience of the volunteer is intertwined with neocolonial structures and ideologies. Drawing on Pauwels’ multimodal framework for analyzing websites as cultural expression, this research analyzes written utterances, stylistic features and dominant narrative voices. The focus lies on the representation of the Dutch volunteer as ‘the Self’ and the local South Africa population as ‘the Other’ within the online discourse. Using a grounded theory approach, the analysis identifies three central themes in the representation of the volunteer: the volunteer as protected hero, the volunteer as teacher and the volunteer as idealistic self. Across all three representations, the volunteer is offered the opportunity for spiritual growth, while simultaneously being positioned as morally superior. Three key themes also emerge in the representation of the local population: the local population as uncivilized, the local population as receptive and the local population as passive actor. These portrayals demonstrate how the identity of the local population is systematically reduced to an object of help, serving the self-development of the volunteer. From a postcolonial perspective, the study concludes that neocolonial power structures and ideologies persist within the spiritual dimension of voluntourism. While the Dutch volunteer is offered the opportunity for spiritual renewal, the South African population remains confined within colonial continuities in the online narrative. Key words: Voluntourism, South Africa, Dutch Travel Organizations, Spirituality, Postcolonial Theory, Website Analysis, Multimodal Framework.