If one visits Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mumbai or Rio de Janeiro, one will most likely book a fairly decent hotel, eat well, emerge him or herself in the country’s culture for a little while and come back home full of pleasant memories. But some visitors – mostly westerners visiting developing countries – will want to have an “edgier”, “more challenging”, more “real” experience of a city. For that, they will go on so-called slum tours, a.k.a. tours of the poorest, most deprived areas of a town, armed with cameras, insatiable curiosity and fairly good intentions.
Slum tourism existed long before it became a modern subject of both interest and controversy. As early as the 1800s, rich Upper East-Side New Yorkers were lining up in the streets of the Lower East-Side, the Five-Points and other less wealthy New York neighborhoods, curious to see how the poorer New Yorkers were living.
But today, with urban areas becoming more and more crowded and with movies such as Slumdog Millionaire (set in the slums of Mumbai, India) or City of Gods (about the “favelas” in Brazil), it would be fair to call our era slum tourism’s golden age. Its popularity is creating an ever-growing sense of discomfort: could slum tourism be just plain voyeurism?
Dharavi Slum, Mumbai – Photo by Laertes (Flickr)
A Positive Experience
Although slum tours are not for the faint-hearted, most of the tourists get a surprisingly positive feeling from them. They call the experience life-changing, eye opening, touching; they claim seeing the “real”, “human” side of a city; the people they see touch them, by their faces lighting up when they talk to them. Although moved by slum habitants’ precarious life conditions, most of the tourists come out of the tours with a big smile, as you can see in testimonials from tourists who did the Salaam Baalaak Trust Tours in New Delhi, India.
But has they done anything for the people they met, for the inhabitants of the slums they have toured around? Did their presence help for the community? Is it a first step towards a most needed change?
According to Kennedy Odede, former inhabitant of the slum of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, the answer is no. Odede, executive director of Shining Hope for Communities and a passionate slum tourism detractor, stated in an article published in the Op-Ed section of the New York Times that no matter how well intentioned the tourists are, the poverty and the life conditions they are witnessing in slum tours are complex realities that can never be fully understood and grasped in a two hours visit. And when the tourists leave the slums, they leave its inhabitants the exact same way they found them, except with something missing: a piece of their dignity.
Slum Tours Result In Actions
But for some tourists, such as Ivar Schou, a Norwegian citizen living in Bali who was stated in an article in La Gazette de Bali (article in French), his tour of the slums of Jakarta was a life changing experience, so moving and disturbing that he had to help community some more: he invested money in a mobile health clinic project in the slum.
Mister Schou is not the only one: some tourists do decide to take action after going on a slum tour. And perhaps that without visiting the slums in the first place, they would never have. Does a handful of good Samaritans justify slum tourism and makes it ethical?
Kennedy Odede has an answer to that question as well, and it is still no. According to him, the vast majority of the tourists visiting slums will do nothing after their tour. Witnessing such extreme misery is enough in itself. “Slum tourism, writes Odede in his New York Times article, is a one-way street”.
Curious Locals, Jakarta Slums – Photo by DMahendra (Flickr)
What Are The True Motivations of the Tourists?
The most pessimistic retractors of slum tourism think that slum tours are some form of twisted entertainment for the visitors: misery and desperate conditions are witnessed and “experienced”, but escaped from right after. Some even attributes to slum tourists unspoken intentions to compare themselves with the worst of the worst, and therefore, feel better about their own lives and their own problems. It is interesting to note that slum tourism reaches a peak every year during the Holidays and the first two weeks of February, prior to Valentine’s day: two periods that can be challenging for some in the western world, two periods that make many westerners feel like their life is lonely and meaningless.
It is only fair to ask what the true motivations of the tourists visiting extremely poor areas of developing countries’ cities are. If they genuinely had slum habitants’ rehabilitation at heart, there are ways to help them better then tour around their neighborhood with a camera. Countless organisms are fighting for the better health and living conditions of slum inhabitants. They are in desperate need of money and mentorship. Why not help them?
But, to come in slum tourism’s defense, one can also say that a lot of these organisms are the same who organizes the tours in the first place. In most cases, the money collected with the tours will go entirely or, at least, mostly, to the development of social programs in the slums. Some tours are free, but come with obligations, like one organized in local city dumps by the Church of Mazatlan in Mexico. If you agree to go on this tour, you have to give some of your time for voluntary work, helping the locals in various tasks.
No matter how heated the debate gets, slum tourism is getting more and more popular and will not disappear any time soon. Therefore, to keep it ethical and respectful, the question that must be asked is not “should it stop”, but rather “how should it be done?”
WRITERS BIO: Mireille is a travel, music and theater enthusiast. She wrote for the stage and television, and is now working as a freelance blogger for Tourism Montreal.
Thank you Mireille for this intriguing guest post.
Where do you stand on Slum Tourism? We would love to hear your views.
Related posts:
This is such a tricky one. I think that ultimately slum tourism is voyeuristic but it could be beneficial. I’ve never visited a slum myself, but I’ve seen plenty from a distance and I can’t say I’m not intrigued by the concept. And in some ways having a ‘professional’ take you through a slum, in a way that doesn’t disrespect or distress the occupants, is better than wandering there yourself. You could also look at it as an educational experience, especially for a Western child to see how so many people live. And if the ‘tour’ is done in a way that benefits the local community then it should be a win-win scenario. I think it can only work in that capacity, it can’t be a one way street.
Hi Victoria, thanks for your comment. I absolutely agree with your points. The key is the community benefit from you being there, in a positive manner.
Thought-provoking post. I think the last line sums up my take: “How should it be done”?
Human intentions will always vary from person to person, but what’s also true is that there will always be a section of society that feels moved to witness firsthand what many people only read about.
Thanks Jenna, very true!
Ultimately, if it is done with respect, I don’t think there is anything wrong with it. After all, why do we travel at all? It is to see how other people live, to experience other peoples’ lives, to see their cultures, try their foods, listen to their music, dance their dances, wear their clothes, climb their mountains…
I had the opportunity to take a slum tour when I was in Rio de Janeiro, but opted out because I was with Brazilians, and to them, they don’t understand why you would want to go to a slum willingly. I chose to experience a slum as a Brazilian would, despite it being a Brazilian not from a slum. If the opportunity presented itself again, I would still consider it. I know people have very positive experiences on these kinds of tours.
And anyway, we shouldn’t hide from this way of life. We shouldn’t hide it from the rest of the world. It is important to know all the ways people live… to close yourself off to this is choosing to be sheltered and ignorant. (note I do not mean ignorant as in stupid, I mean it as in unaware)…
Thoughts?
I certainly understand the controversy about slum tours. I am both FOR and AGAINST them. Let me explain this.
I was born, grew up and still live in brazil’s largest slum or favela. Life is dificult yes, but not impossible. I am proud to live here in Rocinha. I will never leave here, but I do not want to leave here. This is my home. This is my feelings about this issue of slum/favela tourism.
What I like about the tours is the contact I get from foreigns who come here. This interaction helps me to educate people about my life here in the favela. When foreigns come here I feel like my home/favela has value and are worth to be seen. The Brazilian goverment mostly ignores us and helps us very little. We want our voice to be heard. I want to feel that somebody on the outside cares about us and recognizes that we exist. Up until about 5 years ago favelas did not exist on maps. Why was this? Many foreigns come to learn how we create and live in our comunity with little or no goverment involvement. Others come becase of the art and culture that exists here.I do not judge why people come, they confirm that we exist.
I started in tourism becase I saw the oportunity to show my favela and help create jobs for others here. We live here, and should be making the tours here. I have heard outsider tour companies exagerrate things or tell outright lies about my favela. They do this becase they do not know and do not live here. I am here to show a social experience not some adrenalin tour. With my work, about 20% return to volunteer in social projects or start their own programs in the favela. Recently people have contacted me wanting to make projects like a rooftop garden class and another person wants to help bring solar energy here.
My friend Jim Shattuck and I, ran a fundraiser which earned about $800 reais, which will go to Tio Lino’s Art School in the Rocinha. Visitors to my favela helped with this project by taking tours! With this we will be able to give 40 children back packs filled with school supplies and provide much needed art materials needed for the art studio.
I was able to help a student, Leandro Lima, realize his dream of being a photographer. After learning that he had his camera stolen (outside the favela), I set aside money from my tours from August to October 2010 and during his birthday party on the 16th, he was suprised to receive this, but he is deserving!
These are people who came on visits here in the favela and in some way help contribute. Is this bad?
What I do NOT like about the tours…the tours made in jeeps or trucks is the worst becase it presents us like a zoo. The tourists have no contact with the locals and this reinforces a sense of possible danger. Tours or visits where the guests walk in the favela are more welcome. There is one company that tells their guests not to interact with the locals if they are approached. This is wrong. The glamorization of violence is another thing that we do not like here. It is as if these companies are trying to capitalize on some kind of excitement. Favelas are not war zones and people need understand that real, honest hardworking people live there, we just make less money.
There are tour companies here who use the comunity to make money but they give very little or nothing back to the community. This is not right. They should contribute something for the betterment of the favela. There are plenty of social projects here who could use help.
I am not ashamed to live in the favela and people should not feel shame to come and visit. All we ask is please do not take fotos of us like we are animals and do not have fear if we say hello to you on the street.
If we want to stop or reduce poverty, we need to stop pretending it does not exist. I call it socially responsible tourism. If you chose to tour this type of comunity, try to give something back however big or small. Becase of Tourism we have a Dj School called Spin Rocinha. The dj classes are FREE to all residents of the favela. You can find us on facebook under “Spin Rocinha”…
Slums, favelas and shanties are where 1/3 of the population live in all major cities, serving the needs of mostly the rich. Visiting these places may increase your knowledge and awareness at a much deeper level than visiting a museum or art exhibition. Ignoring poverty is not going to make it go away and those who have more, should not feel guilt. Unfortunately, this world will always have this unbalance of wealth. Sad but true.
Thank you,
Zezinho da Rocinha