Ironic Encounters: Posthumanitarian Storytelling in Slum Tourist Media

Abstract

We argue that slum tourist media exemplify a distinct and growing narrative genre about posthumanitarian travel: ironic encounters. In ironic encounters, Global North tourists construct a humanitarian Self through their firsthand engagement with suffering in the Global South. In these stories, tourists present their travels as essential for coveted experiential knowledge while depicting locals as the true beneficiaries of the tourists' self‐discovery. We examine 3 high‐profile texts produced by visitors of Kibera, a densely populated low‐income community in Nairobi, Kenya: the BBC special Famous, Rich and in the Slums, the book Megaslumming, and a White House slideshow about Jill Biden's tour of Kibera. Emblematic of ironic encounters, these texts ultimately justify slum tourism as a humanitarian act.

Virtual reality and celebrity humanitarianism: Rashida Jones in Lebanon

“…Jones’ account of her Lebanon trip follows the broad contours of “ironic encounters,” a distinctive narrative genre enabling travelers from the global North to construct authentic humanitarian selves by engaging with suffering in the global South (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016). The “ironic” references a distanced attitude from “grand narratives” that also eschews critiques of “the structural features of global inequality” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 51).…”

“…Jones’ account of her Lebanon trip follows the broad contours of “ironic encounters,” a distinctive narrative genre enabling travelers from the global North to construct authentic humanitarian selves by engaging with suffering in the global South (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016). The “ironic” references a distanced attitude from “grand narratives” that also eschews critiques of “the structural features of global inequality” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 51). “Ironic encounters” privilege “personal engagement with global suffering” as essential for gathering “coveted experiential knowledge”; such encounters end with “depicting locals as the true beneficiaries of the tourists’ process of self-discovery” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 50).…”

“…The “ironic” references a distanced attitude from “grand narratives” that also eschews critiques of “the structural features of global inequality” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 51). “Ironic encounters” privilege “personal engagement with global suffering” as essential for gathering “coveted experiential knowledge”; such encounters end with “depicting locals as the true beneficiaries of the tourists’ process of self-discovery” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 50). Akin to Chouliaraki’s (2013) mirror structure, ironic encounters are “more concerned with constructing the humanitarian Self than representing the impoverished Other” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 50).…”

“…“Ironic encounters” privilege “personal engagement with global suffering” as essential for gathering “coveted experiential knowledge”; such encounters end with “depicting locals as the true beneficiaries of the tourists’ process of self-discovery” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 50). Akin to Chouliaraki’s (2013) mirror structure, ironic encounters are “more concerned with constructing the humanitarian Self than representing the impoverished Other” (Ekdale and Tuwei, 2016: 50). Jones’ narrative mirrors some of the normative claims associated with such encounters.…”

Encountered Space and Situated Lay-Knowledge: A Mixed Methods Approach

“…Such flat ontology enables in-depth analysis of performed tourism consumption or production practices, and unravels the embeddedness of tourism practices (Lamers, Duim, and Spaargaren 2017). Ekdale and Tuwei (2016) discovered that the lay knowledge developed by Global North tourists from their firsthand engagement with suffering in the Global South led them to construct a humanitarian self in addition to gaining knowledge of the local life. Ji, Li, and Hsu (2016) identified that the lay knowledge developed by Chinese tourists about Japan from their own trip involved revising their prior stereotypes that were heavily influenced by textbooks and political relations.…”