Orphanage Tourism in Nepal

“I find it a refreshing critique of the rescue discourses found in Western aid agencies, academia and tourism advertising that position countries such as Nepal as in need of their interventions. Through longitudinal and dedicated research, Esther Bott has listened to some of the many young people who have experienced care provision in what we call orphanages in Nepal and brings us their stories of improved life opportunities, broken family connections and struggles – a mixed bag but always showing their agency and determination. This stands in stark contrast to other literature advocating rescue, designating orphans as victims and ‘traffickers’ as villains and attracting endless funds for the rescue advocates themselves. This book challenges the impetus to ‘do good’ and invites you to examine the structural drivers of poverty and under-development, channelling the voices of the youth who have actual lived experiences of the ‘orphan’ industry.” —Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, University of South Australia, Australia. “This beautifully written book makes an important and original contribution to the literature that critically interrogates the dominant discourse on ‘modern slavery’ and the longer tradition of liberal humanitarianism in which it is grounded. Based on extensive fieldwork in Nepal, the book illuminates how ‘the suffering child’, produced by the liberal humanitarian as a depoliticized object of humanitarian intervention, has been commoditized to meet the demand for ‘voluntourism’, a segment of the long haul tourism market that reflects and reproduces colonial narratives about the pre-modern other standing in need of salvation.” —Julia O’Connell Davidson, University of Bristol, UK.