Eugene (Postdoc in biomedical engineering from Sheffield. Lived in Taiwan and UK and enjoyed busking-subsidised a cappella tours in USA and Europe whilst in college, but wary of privilege and how this might come across in less affluent countries): I read this article recently about gap year backpackers begging to fund their travels, and it has gotten me thinking about volun-tourism, beg-packing, busking (performing to fund travels), etc. I would be interested to hear what all of your opinions are on the subject.

Begging from people poorer than you is the ultimate privilege

Monica (Storyteller, transmedia world-builder, based in London. Has worked in non-profit and for-profit sectors, and lived in the Philippines and US. Highly conscious and critical of post-colonial dynamics of privilege):

Well, I am from Southeast Asia, and backpackers begging for money is total white privilege and just fucking shameful. This smacks of poverty porn.

I think Barbie Savior says it all.

 

Jia Jia (Business transformation consultant. Has lived in China, the UK, France, Argentina and the U.S., and never experimented with alternative funding options for personal projects or charity): Ugh, that is disgusting.

Glorifying oneself through moralizing reflections on one’s privilege is the ultimate act of entitlement and self-absorption.

I wanna clean my mind with a toothbrush.

Joy (Ph.D. student from the Bay Area, California. Has lived in Spain, China, and Argentina, and traveled to India and Patagonia on the generosity of relatives): Exactly, and the image of #yolo backpackers selling postcards for more beer money, next to a mom selling postcards to try and buy her kids a school uniform is awful.

A rich country’s citizen traveling for funsies through an economically struggling country (which the richer country may have some role through trade policy/neocolonialism/neoliberalism/etc. in keeping economically disadvantaged) is straight tone-deaf arrogance and privilege.

 

Although, it does seem like there are some circumstances in which it makes sense. For example, I know a lot of couples who crowdsourced funding for their honeymoon, and that seems alright to me; especially since it’s an event that usually has a gift attached to it, makes sense to push the money towards experiences instead of new dinnerware.

Busking vs. begging: is it better if you’re asking for money in return for talent or skill?

Eugene: Most of my friends in the UK who have gone traveling have saved up their own money to do so, although I take Joy’s point about crowdfunding honeymoons which does happen in the UK. Although crowdfunding travels might make sense sometimes, tone-deaf, privileged begging to fund personal adventure is clearly not cool.

But what about busking (performing for voluntary donations) versus begging? I have an acquaintance who is currently in the middle of a “BUSKtheGLOBE” tour, armed with his fiddle. Is what he doing considered “white privilege”?

Jia Jia: 

For me, I’m ok with exchanges of value. If you’ve got talent, skills or things that locals want, you can sell them.

But framing it in terms of begging or in terms of a cause—”help me travel”—is likely to be super tone-deaf when you’re in poorer countries where people much more desperate than you are beg and where there are much more urgent causes than the one you’re trying to raise money for.

Joy: I really value the talent of a lot of street performers, and often really appreciate what they bring to the space. Especially a really great musician. I also think the politics of “deservingness” can be tricky. Should we then get upset at a music school student, not rich but not destitute, who is playing some amazing cello music in the San Francisco subway for some extra burrito money, because there are homeless people on the other end of the station who haven’t had a nutritious meal in days? For me, it depends.

Eugene: Well, then what is the difference between somebody with a “talent” busking in a first world country and somewhere that’s not?

Is it a gross over-reaction to call this privilege, just because the money source (from the wealthier inhabitants or other tourists of that country) “could” have gone to somebody more deserving?

Would the argument that the money would then be reinvested into that country through the forms of paying for accommodation, travel, food, and perhaps expensive alcohol nullify the criticism of beg-packing somewhat?

As an example, I was a member of my college a cappella group (in the UK) who regularly busk at Portobello Road market and raise a decent amount of money off (much wealthier) tourists of all kinds, which goes towards group projects such as buying equipment, subsidising tours and paying for studio time. They have just completed a multi-week tour to Hong Kong where they did a mixture of workshops, concerts and busking in a mobile van. I don’t think they raised busking money during the HK tour, but if they had, it probably would not have been considered begging due to HK being part of the elite group of developed countries.

As with most things in life, the final balance depends on context

Janice (Writer/Producer from New York City has been privileged enough to have traveled to Asia and Europe on her parents’ dime when she was a child; adventures as an adult have been few and far between): Busking as an a cappella school group is perfectly fine, but not if you’re doing it next to a school where the teachers are struggling to find funds to keep arts on the program for their students (unless it’s their own students doing the busking in front of their school).

That would just be rubbing one’s privilege in the other students’ faces.

Which is what these beg-packers are doing and it’s so disgusting.

Joy: I think that’s right. A lot of it is so contextual–busking in Hong Kong would feel fine, at least from my perspective, because of how wealthy it is. It would feel a bit more weird to be trying to raise money that way for travel through, say, Cambodia.

Jia Jia: I think that generally being context-aware is the most important thing. It’s difficult to judge in absolute terms.

Janice:

It seems that the dividing line is socioeconomic consciousness.

Backpackers begging on the streets or selling postcards next to a mom who’s trying to put food on the table is a socioeconomically insensitive thing to do and reeks of ignorance, privilege, and apathy.

Tags:  beg-packing busking inequality multicultural politics privilege race travel