Slum tourism

Slum tourism - Wikipedia

"Originally focused on the slums of London and Manhattan in the 19th century, slum tourism is now becoming increasingly prominent in many places, including South Africa, India, Brazil, Poland, Kenya, Philippines, United States, and others."

There is disagreement over whether the practice promotes awareness of social realities or simply exploits the impoverished as a form of entertainment.

What's your perspective?

 

I really don't believe people are going to slums for enjoyment.

I agree with the increased awareness to social realities within the world.

 

theres a show on Netflix called "dark tourism" or "tourist"
I think....
check it out its interesting to see what kind of shady situatuions people PAY to put them selves into for the joy of simply doing it

 

Yeah I've seen that, the kiwi guy is hilarious. I've seen the one in Mexico where people payed to "cross the border" which turned out to be a very realistic recreation. Alot of that was for the camera but I get you. I think that's a little different to visiting a slum for entertainment, similar but differnt.

 

I think it's a cross between enjoyment as well as adrenaline and wanting the experiences. There are 'slum' tourism things people do which create danger, there are things they do which are absolutely harmless ways of living, there are places people go just to see how they are run and have the knowledge. If you really think about it, there can be many different reasons for someone to follow this style of travelling and visiting. I personally agree with it completely for whichever reason it might be because I think it's great for people to travel and gain experience around the world in all sorts of different situations.

 

its terrible man experienced first hand

 

I understand travelling for the sake of improving your knowledge of a social condition, but isn't there something unsettling about treating people, in particular those living under harsh circumstances, as a spectacle?

Have you traveled with a slum tourism service?

 

In my opinion the only thing unsettling about going somewhere to experience the experience and learn about the place and gain some
knowledge on how other people do things would be places like third world countries. This would be unsettling to me, because these
types of trips will show you how much poverty is in other places, how it's dealt with, how local people cope with things and how
'efficient' they are for what little they may have. This is unsettling because if you compare something like a third world country to
a "normal" country it's shocking how much money we can make and how much money we need to leave and how easily people can
be depressed and develop anxiety and stuff like this simply over financial instability while we have other countries in the world where
the citizens make barely anything and have to actually use survival skills in their real normal world.

This whole topic is unsettling because someone from Canada or USA could go visit a third world country and take over a few thousand
dollars and be a king, while in Canada and USA you can work hard for money and mostly pay it back into taxes, gas, cost of living in
the form of food, housing, and then as well with that not have financial stability and be depressed because your life is crumbling apart
and when people suicide over things like this they probably still had more material items than the people who struggle to survive
in those third world countries.

The spectacle is how you look at it.

 

Are church groups included in the category of people that are touring here? A big part of slum tourism is church groups going to make an impact and meet within the communities they're donating to etc.

 

"First world" would be more appropriate.
I know what you meant there by "normal," but semantics are important on this topic.
Poverty can be as normal as affluence.

I agree.

Well, maybe.
Those are typically considered missions. Like you said, they're goal is to make an impact on the communities. A group of tourists would just be there to observe.
It's not impossible though that there may be the same voyeuristic element in both groups.

 

i think people that have the money to tour far and go to slums and stuff just go to see that there's actually people living like that

 

????