Hope in the dark: geographies of volunteer and dark tourism in Cambodia

This study reveals that volunteer tourism in Cambodia, particularly at memorial sites of past violence, fosters hope for a better future by contesting the 'monstrous' legacies of deprivation and atrocities. Volunteers, who engage in medical or community development work, express hopeful beliefs in eradicating poverty through education and healthcare, yet their experiences are shaped by encounters with sites like Khmer Rouge memorials and impoverished communities. The research combines interviews with returned volunteers and auto-ethnographic observations to demonstrate how material experiences at these sites can generate hope, offering a post-phenomenological perspective on the geographies of hope.

Koleth, M. (2014). Hope in the dark: geographies of volunteer and dark tourism in Cambodia. Cultural Geographies, 21(4), 681–694. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474013519577