Post on 13-May-2023
Close knit or loosely woven?
Unravelling the quotidian geographies of voluntarism: a
case study of Operation Christmas Child.
BA Geography
Final year: 2012
Candidate number: 642537
Word count: 11,928
ABSTRACT
Volunteering is a long-standing phenomenon of immense socio-economic value and, currently, significant political purchase. This study departs from the recent proliferation of debates concerning its national political deployment, in order to considerhow and with what consequences landscapes of volunteering are shaped by locally lived volunteer lives. Drawing on geographical work on morality, care and giving, it focuses on the often neglected spaces of individual lived experience, exploring how these help constitute and come to be constituted by the practices,performances and experiences of volunteering. In order to achieve this the study centralises volunteers empirically, through a case study of Operation Christmas Child, a children's charity which enables volunteers to send wrapped shoeboxes of gifts to disadvantaged children overseas. Utilising several innovative participation-based methods, including participation in knitting circles and volunteering in an OperationChristmas Child warehouse, the research explores how practices of volunteering are inseparable from individual ethics and imaginaries. This leads to a consideration of the situation of both volunteering and volunteers with regard to the (re)productionand negotiation of various social power structures. The study highlights the particular affective significance of embodied connection and banal, quotidian performances to the production of ethical meanings through volunteering. It demonstrates how these interconnect enabling investments in individual identities and practices of care for the self, such as catharsis, feelingful reflection and meaningful relationships. As a result, the multifaceted, dialogic relationship between volunteering and ordinary, personal lives is stressed, which suggests that a redefinition of volunteering would be beneficial which considered more equally its capacity to 'touch' volunteers as well as recipients. It is recommended that current work on voluntarism would benefit if greater attention were paid to the complex spatialities of such touching. To consider the
cartographies of voluntarism and everyday life separately would deprive understandings of both.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to say a huge thankyou to all those who have
helped me through this project: Firstly, to the volunteers from
Wedmore Parish churches and the surrounding area for sharing part
of their lives with me and particularly Valda for knitting with
and teaching me so much. Secondly, to Hilary McFall and all the
ladies at Wiltshire warehouse for welcoming and caring for me.
Your example of love is one that I hope many people will follow.
Thirdly, to Professor Paul Cloke- for giving his time to help a
stranger and a wonderful demonstration of 'ethical citizenship' (Cloke et
al. 2007) in action!
Finally, I would like to thank Frances, whose patience has
been unending, advice invaluable and whose kindness has
continually amazed me. I couldn't have done it without you.
DEDICATIONThanks be to my Heavenly Father, El Elyon.
'He is good; his love endures forever' (2 Chronicles 7:3).
CONTENTS
Page
1 Introduction 01
2 Volunteering and its geographies
03
2.1 Volunteering in context
2.2 Moral geographies and volunteering
2.3 Volunteering motivations: ordinary ethics and care
2.3.1 Ordinary ethics
2.3.2 Care
2.4 Practising volunteering: embodied performance, affect and
giving
2.4.1 Embodied performance and affect
2.4.2 Giving
3 Methodology 14
3.1 Study context
3.2 Methodology overview
3.3 Semi-structured interviews
3.4 Participation-based research
3.4.1 Warehouse volunteering
3.4.2 Knitting
3.5 Positionality
3.6 Ethics
Research findings
4 Actualising ordinary ethics in the spaces of
volunteering 22
4.1 Networks and connectivities
4.2 The effects of ordinary ethics
4.2.1 Faith
4.3 The perplexing nature of giving spaces
4.4 Summary
5 Creating and connecting voluntarism's spaces: the
30 significance of embodiment
5.1 Embodied practices of knitting
5.2 Performances of care through shoeboxes
5.2.1 The affects of performance
5.3 At the nexus of ethics and embodiment: the haptic
geographies of voluntarism
5.3.1 (Dis)connection and responsibility
5.4 Summary
6 “That box is so powerful really isn't it?” The (re)production 38
and negotiation of power structures in voluntarism.
6.1 Power amongst volunteers at Wiltshire warehouse
6.2 Neocolonialism in OCC
6.2.1 Critical and postcolonial voluntarism
6.3 Summary
7 Conclusions
45
7.1 The skeins of ordinary ethics
7.2 Knitting (two) together: the significance of embodied
performances
7.3 Weaving in and casting off power structures
7.4 Tying up loose ends: suggestions for further research
Chapter 1 Introduction
“You can call it empowerment. You can call it freedom. You can call it responsibility.”
David Cameron's (2010) comment refers to the much-publicised Big
Society, his 'mission in politics' (Sparrow, 2011) 'unleashing social energy'
by encouraging Britons in collective 'stimulating pursuits' (The Big
Society Network, 2011). Volunteering is one such engagement,
encouraged to achieve a coming “together in... neighbourhoods to do good
things" (ibid). Generally, volunteering- formal and informal-
constitutes far reaching and variegated networks, facilitating
ethical performances and close relationships across local,
regional and national boundaries. Consequently it is a widespread
and enduringly popular phenomenon pursued for its benefits both to
recipient and volunteer.
At a time when voluntarism is receiving considerable political
attention, this study inspects geographical work on volunteering,
combining it with that on moral geographies, care and giving. It
departs from work by Cloke et al. (2005; 2007; 2010) on volunteering
in homelessness services. These authors explore how quotidian
moral influences source volunteer motivations and inspire
particular practices which co-construct organisational spaces of
care. They do not, however, consider volunteer practices as
situated in and part constitutive of individual lives; this work
empirically centralises volunteers themselves, investigating how
volunteering is lived and part of personal lives. How and with
what spatial consequences are volunteering practices experienced
phenomena, enmeshed with volunteers' daily lives? To answer this,
1
three questions are posed:
1. What 'ordinary ethics' (Barnett et al., 2005) and imaginaries are
brought to volunteering and how are these actualised spatio-
temporally?
2. What significance does the embodied nature of caring
practices have in volunteering and for volunteers themselves?
3. Do volunteers' motivations or practices (re)produce any power
structures and/or is there evidence of more critical
voluntarism, by which structures can be negotiated?
By posing these questions in a study of the charity, Operation
Christmas Child, this work seeks to address that “little is known on
volunteer experiences” within geography (Pearce, 1993) and improve
understandings of the significance of volunteering for volunteers
personally, volunteering itself and its study. It is additionally
intended to enable discussion about contemporary readings of
volunteering- whether participants can be considered selfish,
government-controlled neoliberal puppets (Peck and Tickell, 2002),
or whether the entanglement of volunteering with everyday lives
transforms its practices and ethical meanings, making it more
relational and emotional (and part of the resistance against
neoliberalism) (Cloke et al. 2010).
This research is conducted in a novel way: participatory
techniques of knitting, sewing and other volunteering practices
are used. Involvement was sought to facilitate interactions with
participants and more personal, holistic understandings of
volunteering than those possible through interview-based
2
techniques alone. The research is arranged as follows: firstly
relevant literatures are reviewed, then methods employed are
explained. Three chapters then outline some emerging themes, which
are synthesised in chapter 7, with reflections upon their
implications and suggestions for further research.
Chapter 2 Volunteering and its geographies
2.1 Volunteering in context
Whilst the origins of volunteering remain mysterious, for
millennia mankind has surrendered time serving others in ways
innumerable and of value immeasurable. Such service remains
popular; from 2008-2009 41% of Britons volunteered at least once
annually (Drever, 2010). Volunteering is also economically
3
valuable; in 2001, the aggregate value of US volunteer hours was
$239bn (Chambré and Einolf, 2009). Yet despite this significance,
'volunteering' defies simple definition; it can be an offer to do
something, work without payment, or action independent of
government (Salamon and Sokolowski, 2001). Varied comprehensions
lead Kendall and Knapp (1995) to call volunteering 'a loose and baggy
monster'. Handy and Hustinx (2009) relish this complexity, terming
it a 'kaleidoscope concept', with dynamic contextual 'pictures every time the
field shifts'. A simple, initial definition is:
“any unpaid activity where someone gives their time to help an organisation or an
individual” (Fitzgerald and Lang, 2009).
Volunteering is of considerable public interest and social policy
relevance, particularly because of its shifting position vis-a-vis
the state. Support from successive governments since the 1980s, in
the context of rolled-back state support for service provision,
has led to the increasing prominence of the voluntary (or third)
sector (Edwards and Woods, 2006) and its broad acceptance as a
form of governance alongside other community structures (Parsons,
2006). Most recently David Cameron promoted voluntarism within the
Conservative Party's 2010 flagship policy idea, the Big Society.
This was billed a 'huge culture change', devolving power to society to
help 'their own communities' (Cameron, 2010). £500m funding has been
promised- 'every penny of dormant bank and building society account money
allocated to England' (King, 2010).
Volunteering has also received significant academic attention.
Research foci include general sector characteristics (Boris and
4
Steuerle, 2006), volunteer motivations (Wilson and Musick, 1999)
and personal characteristics (Gallup organisation, 1987). However,
accounts are 'largely aspatial' (Fyfe and Milligan, 2004). Within
geography, voluntarism is deemed a 'lost continent' (Salamon et al. 2000)
lacking literature. Despite this, some varied works have recently
emerged. One collection, Landscapes of voluntarism (Milligan and
Conradson, 2006), exemplifies this variety, with topics ranging
from rural community governance to charity shop
professionalisation. Throughout such accounts, a particular
cluster of views prevail. Firstly, volunteers are conceptualised
as cheap service providers, addressing needs originally met by the
welfare state (Edwards and Woods 2006). Secondly, voluntary groups
are considered 'little platoons” (Peck and Tickell, 2002) of neoliberal
governments, their actions directed via financial contributions
and policy pressures. Cameron has acknowledged this view, calling
public sector workers 'weary, disillusioned puppets of government targets'
(2010), needing empowerment by the Big Society to 'come together and
improve life for themselves' (Conservative party manifesto, 2010). Finally,
volunteers are thought selfishly interested in 'moral selving'-
creating themselves 'more virtuous and often more spiritual' (Allahyari,
2000:4). Collectively, these views depict volunteering negatively.
Their considerable political influence justifies these views'
importance for critical study.
2.2 Moral geographies and volunteering
Unlike volunteering, geographers (e.g. McDowell, 1994) have
5
considered moral philosophy extensively, particularly since the
'moral turn' of the 1990s (Smith, 1997). Smith (ibid) asserted
that 'nothing much is lost' if morals and ethics both mean judgements of
conduct as right/wrong or good/bad. Proctor (1998) however
distinguishes ethics as:
“systematic intellectual reflection on morality in general- morality being... the realm of
significant normative concerns, often described by notions such as good or bad, right or
wrong, justified or unjustified”.
Morals influence daily living, since morality is conceived and
enacted (Smith, 2000:10). Entrikin (1991) consequently saw 'moral
geographies' as the social relations constituting communities and
their practices. More broadly however, moral geographies refer to
any 'interrelationship of moral and geographical arguments' (Matless, 2009)
including the influence of places upon moral sensibilities, vice
versa and geographies of morals. Shared morals can create the 'we-
feelings' (Cloke, 2002) of community, although established
simultaneously are those not sharing feelings- excluded Others.
Such exclusion was examined by Cloke, May and Johnsen in their
Homeless Places Project. There, they encouraged volunteers to be
sensitive to senses of Others (Augé, 1998) and have senses for them,
that are reflexive, emotionally connected and committed to them.
Their project inspired several papers (2005; 2007) and the book
Swept Up Lives (2010). The authors (2005) examined organisational
ethoses in homeless centre discourses and argue that, unlike
volunteering influenced by Christianity or secular humanism,
'postsecular' volunteering had a non-oppressive sense for Others and
6
would likely arise in quotidian volunteering performances. These
performances are explored alongside volunteers' motivations (2007)
to assess how workers co-construct care spaces. Performances are
considered products of specific motivations and influential of
constructions of and interactions with homeless Others. This
approach enables comment on the disadvantages of third sector
corporatisation, ethically complex motivations and the
performative construction of homeless spaces. However, volunteers'
backgrounds are only considered sources of motivations, rather
than also sites of volunteering. Further, the project neglects
volunteers' lives, focussing on volunteering producing official
care spaces. More could be done to illuminate how and with what
spatial consequences volunteering practices aren't
compartmentalised and isolated from volunteers' lives because they
occur in disposable time- but are intricately interconnected with
them. Smith et al. (2010) do consider this vivacity, calling
volunteering 'situated, emotional and embodied'. However, their work more
highlighted than extensively explored this situatedness and didn't
consider voluntarism's moral dimensions. This study attempts to
fill this lacuna, examining volunteering practices as enmeshed in
their ordinary spatialities. Opportunity may also arise to
contribute to discussions in Swept Up Lives, where, additionally to
challenging conventional representations of the urban homeless,
the authors explore how critical 'postsecular' care is performed
within homeless services 'despite their spatial marginality... stigma [and]
financial tenuousness' (DeVerteuil, 2010). Consequently they argue for
an alternative reading of volunteering to that prevailing (p4), in
which volunteers selflessly establish geographies of relationship
7
and emotion, forming 'part of the resistance against the excesses of neoliberalism'
(Cloke, 2011). This study examines volunteering performances,
considering whether there is support for Cloke et al.'s reading of
volunteers, the conventional view or one altogether different.
2.3 Volunteering motivations: ordinary ethics and care
Volunteering is a lived experience, necessitating
consideration of volunteers' motivations. Their popular
discussions in research however (e.g. Leete, 2006), tend towards
tabulated summaries not repeated here.
2.3.1 Ordinary ethics
This research will consider: what ordinary ethics are brought
to volunteering and how are these actualised spatially? 'Ordinary
ethics' were first conceptualised in Barnett et al.'s (2005) work on
ethical consumption. Ethical consumption is conventionally
considered (in a knowledge deficit model) a consequence of place-
based knowledge prompting the adoption of abstract ethical values.
The authors however re-conceptualise consumers as 'ordinarily ethical',
with their (shifting) ethics forming 'platforms' upon which
impulses for action are developed (Cloke et al. 2007). Associated
with ordinary ethics are learned ethical competencies which
constitute practical consumption habits, partly producing
volunteers' moral selfhoods. Barnett et al. (ibid) add that ethics
can be re-articulated by personal choices ('governing the consuming
8
self') and campaign 'devices' (tools achieving a task- here 'governing
consumption'). By re-articulation, ordinary ethics are made into
exceptional commitments, enabling volunteers to invest in their
own 'ethical citizenship' (Cloke et al. 2007). In this 2007 paper, ethical
performances in volunteering spaces are explored. Here, broad
organisational ethoses aren't solely performed by volunteers;
instead they are transformed through combination (complicatedly
and unstably) with individual ethical commitments to inspire
volunteering practices. Care spaces are partly produced by these
ethoses.
Although useful, Barnett et al.'s (2005) discussion of ordinary
ethics only examine their re-articulation in actor enrolments and
Cloke et al. (2007) only explore how they inspire specific
performances. Here, they are used to understand voluntary
experiences. It is anticipated that individuals are constantly
influenced by multiple ordinary ethics, all potentially
influencing decisions simultaneously (though to different
degrees). Alongside specific ordinary ethics articulated for
particular volunteering practices then, other ethics may also be
influential. This may entangle volunteering practices/experiences
with other ethical competencies, like caring for friends- showing
them as phenomena not isolated in volunteers' lives. Such
connections might modify volunteering experiences, meanings and
specific practices, enabling hybrid demonstrations of moral
selfhoods.
2.3.2 Care
9
The concept of care denotes engaged interest and 'a
reaching out to something other than the self' (Tronto, 1993:102) with (often)
accompanying actions. Geographical work on care originates from
feminist concerns for subalterns and forms their critical
alternative to male dominated ethical theory. Care is relevant here
since volunteering itself is a device used to meet needs, through
which many forms of care are embodied (it is also conceptually
rich owing to its many meanings- including as a motivation and
moral capacity- Jagger, 2000). Different types of care include
benevolent caring about someone (ethical, emotional concern) and
beneficent caring for them (active demonstrations of support)
(Smith, 1998a). Beneficence particularly interests Silk (1998)
because it seeks emotional, committed connection with Others.
Cloke et al. (2005) warn however that even benevolent care may
oppress where practices arise from pre-formed views of Others.
However demonstrated though, care assists the ongoing construction
of voluntarism's 'emotionally heightened spaces' (Cloke et al. 2007).
Since care involves relational connections between carers and
recipients it is inherently geographical- work on landscapes of
care, ('carescapes'- McKie et al. 2002) continually expands and
includes an exploration of the professionalising influence of New
Labour's performance targets upon homeless service spaces (Cloke et
al. 2010). These targets, they argue 'undermined' policies (of the
rationale that the homeless are socially excluded and require
support) that had made 'space for an alternative ethics of care' (ibid:38).
Another discussion of care questions caring 'at a distance'. Currently
a knowledge-deficit model (see p6) prevails, attesting that with
distance, knowledge of ethical responsibilities is lost (Barnett et
10
al. 2005). Thus distance can problematise care, though doesn't
prevent it, because (Corbridge, 1993a:463):
“boundaries are themselves not closed, but... defined in part by an increasing set of
exchanges with distant strangers”.
Barnett et al. (2005) however, argue that proximity-based knowledge
shouldn't be privileged as a conduct motivator. Instead, they
propose that actors' 'ordinarily ethical' competencies are re-
articulated in their enrolment to ethical activities. More
broadly, it has been argued that care can occur, irrespective of
distance, if actors are 'attentive and responsive' (Fisher and Tronto,
1990) to needs. Any impetus, like guilt or generosity, might
suffice, but is unnecessary. Another inspiration of volunteering
(and its underlying ethics) might be moral or political
imaginaries of Others and need. These may arise from ordinary
conversations, images and literature and, additional to ordinary
ethics, may influence decisions to care and consequent voluntary
experiences. This study considers their influence, to improve
understanding of volunteering as woven into volunteers' lives.
2.4 Practising volunteering: embodied performance, affect and
giving
2.4.1 Embodied performance and affect
In addition to volunteers' ethics, performances and their
11
related affects also matter in understanding how volunteering
impacts lives. Performances differ from routine practices- they
accomplish specific tasks, for example, identity enactment
(Butler, 1997). Since ethos partly constitutes identity then,
performances can embody (tangibly express) moral values, affecting
both volunteers and recipients. Furthermore, through their
enactment, 'performative possession' (Bywater, 2007) of space is taken,
helping produce places and moral geographies themselves (Matless,
1994). Cloke et al. (2007) contend that performances of ordinary
ethics particularly create voluntary spaces. Conradson's (2003)
study of a New Zealand community drop-in centre explores this
using actor-network theory. He finds the centre a dynamically
performed network, with continually evolving internal geographies
of relations engendered by myriad performances, which
substantiated space. Whilst some performances were scripted by
rules or training, embodying an institutional order, these (and
others of individuals' initiatives) could have significance in
volunteers' personal lives.
Like Conradson, this research acknowledges the importance of
performances in voluntarism's spaces. However, Conradson focussed
on their role constructing organisational space, here their
significance as experienced by volunteers is explored. Since
Conradson was unaware of 'ordinary ethics' (Barnett et al. 2005)- how
these ethical performances and volunteers' lives enmesh is
examined particularly. Additionally, performances- being embodied
and relational- can reinforce power inequalities like class and
gender ('reproductive volunteering'- Holdsworth and Quinn, 2011) which
cannot be neglected. Such volunteering challenges common
12
assumptions that volunteering is uncontroversial and beneficial
for all involved. Equally, however, embodiment may facilitate
'deconstructive volunteering' (ibid) in which power structures are revealed
and their negotiation attempted.
After using actor-network theory to explore the relational
productions of performance, Conradson (2003) adds that fleeting,
intangible dimensions of volunteering spaces also contribute to
their 'sociability and experiential texture'. These dimensions are atmospheres
of affect (e.g. Tomkins, 1962): a precognitive, neurological
intensity of encounter consequence of the embodied, relational
nature of practices (McCormack, 2008). Affects precede and exceed
cognition, defying representation and forming a mobile, elusive
part of space-time. They are nevertheless influential of
knowledge- forming the 'motion of emotion' (Aitken, 2006), with which
the world is thought, and one way by which affects are transmitted
between bodies (others include sounds, images and objects). One
theory considering affect is non-representational theory (NRT).
Largely developed by Nigel Thrift (e.g. 1999; 2000), NRT
contrasted the Cultural Turn's focus on representations like
discourse, contending that non-representable phenomena like
embodied performances are the principal sources of knowledge, a
form of which is affect (Cloke et al. 2010:66). Affective auras
motivate and modify volunteers' individual and collective
experiences, inspiring and sustaining voluntarism. This influence
accords performances ethical potential- they can encourage the
acceptance of ethical responsibility in the world (Popke, 2009)-
and makes affect of interest here. Considering affective
volunteering performances can help answer the second and third
13
research questions, providing insight into the significance of
volunteering practices as embodied for volunteers themselves and
within larger power structures.
2.4.2 Giving
Since volunteering is a form of giving, concepts from
giving literature may prove beneficial in its investigation. Gifts
involve (Davies et al. 2010):
“selection and transfer of something to someone without the expectation of direct
compensation, but with the expectation of a return”;
they are relational connections partly responsible for societal
'vitality... and identity' (Giesler, 2006). Classically, gifting was
theorised by Marcel Mauss (1923) as a social exchange system with
dyadic structure in which reciprocity was normal (Giesler, 2006).
Mauss' original work, although widely applied, isn't undisputed-
its dyadic structure, for instance, was challenged by Davies et al.
(2010) who propose transactional (additional to reciprocal) giving
in which donor benefits are endogenous, not relational. Defining
giving as a connection, enables its relation to work on haptic
geographies. Typically, geographers have neglected touch for the
gaze (Hayes-Conroy and Hayes-Conroy, 2010) although it is often
vital to individual experiences and general comprehension (Dixon
and Straughan, 2010). The relational connection of touch has
connotations of authenticity that reduce felt distances between
actors; it enables connection between volunteers and Others,
irrespective of geographical distance, destabilising imagined
14
boundaries between internal and external (Stewart, 1999).
Giving can be considered an 'ethical trait' (Cloke et al. 2007)
developed on platforms of ethics like love and care, although
motivations are diverse (including guilt) and have inspired
debates over giving as ultimately altruistic or egoistic. Support
for altruism does exist (e.g. Allen and Rushton, 1983) whilst
others argue that giving is principally selfish; Allahyari
(2000:4) asserts that volunteering is:
“creating oneself as a more virtuous and often more spiritual person... emotional self
work”.
Recently however, this dualism has been challenged. Soper and
Thomas (2006) for example describe an 'alternative hedonism' emerging
in consumption in which consumers altruistically consider factors
like the environment to achieve self-satisfaction; they argue that
altruistic and egoistic motivations are inseparable (see also
Yeung, 2004). More importantly though- since giving relations have
'everything to do with haves and have nots' (Tvedt, 1998:225)- they are
entangled with power. Volunteering performances and organisational
discourses may reproduce (for example) Western-centric power
inequalities. Best placed to examine this is postcolonial theory,
which argues that Western colonial capacities 'are routinely reaffirmed
and reactivated in the colonial present' (Gregory, 2004:7). Postcolonial
theorists criticise representations used in third sector
promotional media (including Operation Christmas Child's, the
organisation considered in this research) which encourage
neocolonial imaginaries by using images of impoverished children
15
(figures 1-4) without socio-political context- victimising,
homogenising and silencing them (McEwan, 2007) and reproducing
Orientalist understandings of the global South as primitive and
backward (Said, 1978).
16
This knowledge is not innocent- because all knowledge 'presuppose[s]
and constitute[s] at the same time, power relations' (Foucault, 1977:27) which
have violent potential- and consequently isn't conducive to
encouraging Holdsworth and Quinn's (2011) 'deconstructive volunteering'.
However, postcolonial theorists also contend that distance is
relational and consequently negotiable (Raghuram et al. 2009) and
that every Westerner can and should listen to, learn from (Kapoor,
2004) and have Augé's (1998) sense for Others to address
inequalities. Investigating this will help answer the third
research question: do volunteers' practices (re)produce power
inequalities or can critical volunteering occur, in which
inequalities are negotiated? With answers to the other questions:
1. What 'ordinary ethics' (Barnett et al. 2005) and imaginaries are
brought to volunteering and how are these actualised spatio-
temporally?
2. What significance does the embodied nature of caring
practices bear in voluntarism and for volunteers themselves?
a greater understanding of volunteering as lived and experiential
might be developed.
17
Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Study context
This dissertation explores volunteering experiences in England
by studying the organisation Operation Christmas Child (hereafter
OCC). OCC is 'the world’s largest children’s Christmas appeal' (Samaritan's
Purse, 2011b) established in Wrexham, Wales in 1990 to alleviate
suffering in Romanian orphanages remnant of the Ceausescu regime.
Shoeboxes were packed with presents (like sweets, stickers,
gloves) and decoratively wrapped, then sent to Romanian orphans.
Its discourses presented shoeboxes as 'a tool for showing love' (OCC,
2006). The idea was embraced particularly by churches and schools;
OCC expanded considerably, sending shoeboxes to 'disadvantaged children'
(OCCa, 2011) in over 130 countries since 1993 (e.g. figure 5-7).
18
Now, OCC is part of the international organisation Samaritan's
Purse and with branches in Australia, New Zealand and Canada,
altogether over 86,000,000 shoeboxes have been sent since 1993
(OCCc, 2011) via this transnational care network. Principally
communicating via leaflets, posters and videos, by 2010 OCC also
had a website, social networking groups on Twitter and Facebook†
and 'Shoebox World', an online tool to fill shoeboxes vicariously.
Most volunteers unofficially (never formally registering with
OCC) fill shoeboxes and take them to 'drop-off points'. They may
also sell items for shoeboxes, like hats and mittens. Official† Twitter and Facebook are websites at the forefront of the recent explosion in
online social networking. On 04 January 2012 OCC had 8,121 and 685 followers of its international and British Twitter pages (respectively) and 26,109 Facebook fans.
19
volunteers (having undergone background checks) transport boxes to
OCC warehouses, checking (liquids, literature and war-related toys
are banned) and packaging them for shipping to distribution
partners overseas. Most volunteering is akin to transactional
giving (Davies, 2010)- without reciprocity, though infrequently
response letters are sent. Nevertheless, some volunteers pay to
assist shoebox distributions; according to desired involvement,
volunteers position themselves in performative 'niches' (McDonald
and Warburton, 2003). This is one reason why OCC was chosen for
this study; whilst comparable to other voluntary organisations in
mission, its structure (including unofficial and official
volunteering) enables diverse volunteering forms in formal and
informal contexts. This uniqueness doesn't, however, restrict this
study's applications since its focus is personal experiences of
volunteering, not OCC particularly. Other reasons for selecting
OCC included the international, distanced nature of giving and the
author's personal connections with OCC- contacts existed and its
structure and history were already familiar.
3.2 Methodology overview
This study's research, undertaken in summer 2011, used mixed
qualitative methods in a tripartite sampling of OCC's structure.
Such sampling enabled interaction with volunteers from multiple
performative niches. Firstly, semi-structured interviews with
volunteers were conducted largely in Wedmore, Somerset. Secondly,
observation and participation-based techniques were employed
20
during one week spent volunteering in an OCC warehouse in
Wiltshire. Thirdly, knitting and sewing were undertaken with five
volunteers (several hours spent with each). Throughout the
research, a written journal was kept to enable the recording and
consideration of personal thoughts and feelings and thus seek
'emotionally intelligent research' (Bennett, 2004). The following sections
elaborate on these methods, discussing positionality, power and
ethics.
3.3 Semi-structured interviews
Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with official
and unofficial volunteers- a manageable quantity considering time
constraints. Most were conducted in the author's home parish of
Wedmore, Somerset; recruiting volunteers largely from one area was
intended to enable nuanced understandings of potential research
themes, like community. Also interviewing warehouse volunteers,
included perspectives of those with roles like area coordinator
and warehouse manager- diversity enables access to varied
perspectives/experiences. Somerset volunteers were recruited via
the local magazine, church newsletters and word of mouth, then a
snowball sampling technique. Consequently, the sample wasn't
representative of OCC: children weren't interviewed, only one male
participated and approximately 85% of interviewees professed
themselves Christian. Nevertheless, neither a comparison of
different volunteers nor a representative sample were originally
sought. Instead an illustration was pursued, of volunteering as
21
lived and personal. One disadvantage was that interviewees
volunteering themselves were generally enthusiastic, potentially
positively biasing discussions. Their statuses as OCC's
representatives could also have caused tendencies towards such
positivity. To attempt to address this, interview questions were
carefully phrased to encourage critical reflection.
Interviews included several topics (see appendix) to uncover
accounts of why and how individuals volunteered and how practices
fitted into their lives. This enabled participants to respond to
(particularly the first two) research questions. Afterwards,
interview recordings were transcribed, then coded akin to Okley's
(1994) work, in which transcripts, notes and reviewed literature
were processed simultaneously and turbulently. Broad thematic
headings were provisionally constructed in a separate document,
then insights from notes and transcripts were compiled under them.
Further re-reading and data contemplation led to new and changed
interpretations.
During interviews, researcher-respondent power inequalities
were anticipated (e.g. from researcher university affiliations),
influencing responses. To balance these, participants themselves
were permitted to choose their interview location and the length
of their contributions†. Some broad questions were drafted for
conversation starters, but weren't rigidly imposed; participants'
responses naturally directed conversation, facilitating its flow
and a calm atmosphere. Interviews were digitally recorded (with
permission) though no accompanying notes were taken, instead being
written immediately afterwards to avoid undue formality unnerving
† Consequently, interviews were widely ranging in duration, from twenty minutesto over two hours! The average interview lasted thirty five minutes.
22
participants. Additionally, it enabled the researcher to listen
fully to responses and pose appropriate questions.
3.4 Participation-based research
The benefits of ethnography (sustained immersion in a social
system) to developing comprehensive, yet detailed, field
understandings are widely acknowledged (e.g. Fraenkel and Wallen,
2008). This inspired use of participation-based techniques to
answer (particularly) the second question of this research
(concerning embodied volunteering). Such methods involve working
alongside volunteers- a form of 'mobile ethnography' (Hein et al. 2008)-
though distinct from participatory action research where
respondents are proactively included to effect change that they
desire (Pain and Francis, 2003). Participation-based research
enables casual chats with volunteers which may facilitate 'chance
encounters, new discoveries and re-imaginings' (Davies and Dwyer, 2007)
impossible in interviews. 'Participation-while-interviewing' (Bærenholdt et
al. 2004) has also been said to level power differentials and help
respondents articulate their views honestly (Hitchings and Jones,
2004). Unfortunately, the acquisition of quotes was impeded as
recording conversations was impractical; all that remained was to
attempt to recall comments in my research journal. Nevertheless,
active research enables access to and (partial) sharing of
embodied volunteering experiences and performances, through which
more holistic understandings of the moral energies and ephemeral
affective atmospheres of volunteering can be developed. Although
23
this embodied knowledge evades representation, it was hoped that
it might help data interpretation. Volunteering undertaken
included knitting and working at an OCC warehouse.
3.4.1 Warehouse volunteering
With permission, one week was spent at an OCC warehouse in
Wiltshire, participating in routine voluntary activities. As a
purely volunteer-funded and operated warehouse processing c.30,000
boxes annually, it has a busy schedule of events, making it an
ideal place to experience volunteering. Outside of November,
warehouse volunteers fundraise and prepare for the checking of
boxes when 'fillers' are added to sparse boxes and exchanged for
unacceptable items. Many fillers are needed, requiring making or
sourcing, then storing according to age and gender suitability.
Additionally, containers of clothes and school equipment are
prepared to send with shoeboxes. During this research, all these
practices were participated in, also a coffee morning, the 'Knit 1
Purl 1 Club' (a fortnightly knitting afternoon) and a fundraising
quiz and picnic. Whilst some activities contrasted conventional
practices like knitting (their coffee breaks were frequent and
sometimes lengthy!) these were integral to volunteers' involvement
(and coffee breaks furthermore encouraged socialising that
facilitated researcher acceptance and more open conversations).
3.4.2 Knitting
Additional to volunteering in Wiltshire, sessions were
24
arranged at the homes of five post-retirement age women from
Somerset. Their volunteering constituted knitting or sewing items
for their own shoeboxes and for volunteer-run 'shoebox shops' in
churches, community centres and coffee mornings (figure 8-9) where
individuals can come and pay to fill shoeboxes immediately.
Materials were taken to each appointment and several hours were
spent joining each lady in her volunteering routine†. Participation
enabled observation of practices and performances to accompany
verbal accounts and also a visceral understanding of volunteering.
Knitting was subsequently also used to assist thought during data
processing. Throughout research, sensitivity to volunteers'
dispositions and characters was critical and required reflexivity
regarding positionality and ethics, considered in the following
sections.
3.5 Positionality
† Time was spent knitting a range of items which were used by the researcher tofill a shoebox personally at the end of the research period.
25
Since fieldwork 'is always contextual, relational, embodied and politicized'
(Sultana, 2007) continual reflexivity was imperative. Being a
young, white, British, middle class, female student positions one
within social power structures which could influence participants'
feelings and contributions. During research, certain researcher
positionality facets proved particularly influential: university
affiliation seemed to intimidate some respondents, reducing
conversation. Age differences also distanced elderly participants
from the researcher, reducing conversation, but also occasionally
reversing power relations, with the researcher being positioned as
a naïve youth to advise. Consequently, although eradicating
inequalities is impossible, working within frameworks to partially
reconcile differences and improve research quality was attempted.
Strategies adopted included avoiding mentioning institutional
affiliation or diverting conversation from its discussion. Another
was one of McDowell's (1998) strategies for interviewing elites:
researcher behaviour was modified after initial visual and verbal
assessments of participants to seek trusting relationships and 'elicit
as thoughtful... responses as possible' (ibid). The shared locality of the
researcher and many- consequently familiar- respondents proved
advantageous here, enabling quicker assessments and some trust
that facilitated more intimate interviews.
Regardless of efforts to negotiate positionality, findings
will be partial and situated owing to their influence by the
researcher's intersubjectivities (Mullings, 1999). Research
nevertheless has significance by:
26
“telling... stories that may otherwise not be told... and revealing broader patterns that
may or may not be stable over time and space” (Sultana, 2007).
Furthermore impartiality matters less than 'fidelity to an event' (Badiou,
2001:42)- 'being ethical and true to the relations and experiences... in the field'
(Sultana, ibid).
3.6 Ethics
Although commitment to ethical guidelines was necessary
throughout research, there was especial need to consider senior
volunteers. The elderly are vulnerable since ageing and memory
loss may lessen their ability 'to perceive information, and to make a rational
decision about participation' (Jokinen, et al. 2002). Consequently
researchers have a 'duty of care' to them (Hickey, 2011) actualised
here firstly, by seeking informed consent to avoid
misunderstandings; the study and intentions for data use were
explained to all participants by telephone/email beforehand and in
person immediately preceding research. Where necessary, it was
arranged for a relation of the volunteer to be present, for
support in case of memory loss. Secondly, confidentiality and
anonymity were assured. Thirdly, research was conducted in
participants' homes where it was 'easier for them to feel that they were an
authority on research topics' (Jokinen et al. 2002). Finally, topics were
explained clearly and sensitively to avoid psychological stress.
Overall however, commitment to established ethical codes wasn't
rigorous, since ethics must be lived in practical choices that
27
negotiate a tumultuous field. Successful research comes through
flexibility, integrity and judgement,
“not by following rules but by negotiating... social situations, sensitive as much as possible
to others’ needs and wishes” (Madjar and Higgins, 1996).
RESEARCH FINDINGS
28
Chapter 4 Actualising ordinary ethics in the
spaces of volunteering
4.1 Networks and connectivities
OCC is a transnational network of care through which thousands
of volunteers create and transfer gifts from across the UK to
disadvantaged children overseas. Officially, volunteering in OCC
is a device for serving these children, although it is also
assimilated and enmeshed within volunteers' personal lives,
transcending the organisational context and not existing
autonomously. Instead, volunteering was often brought into and
performed through practices of personal lives- shopping for
example was rarely a sanctified practice.
“[most] shopping I do on my own... while I'm out in the year, I don't think I'm going out to
shop for shoeboxes, while I'm in Tescos I think ooh they're on special offer I'll have them”
(Claire).
This proximity to daily practices blurred boundaries between
volunteering and wider life- its practices commingled with or were
co-constitutive of regular activities like lunch breaks, or
looking after family. The mundane spaces of these activities- like
car-boot sales and staffrooms- were drawn into OCC's network,
extending it and acquiring ethical significance. This networking
was dynamic, implicated spaces changed, some bearing significance
only momentarily. Sally's hallway for instance, became 'wonderful'
during October when storing her village's shoeboxes and Wiltshire
29
warehouse had regularly transformed displays and table
arrangements for different events. This exemplifies how
organisational networks are transient 'achievements' of volunteering
(Conradson, 2003). For volunteers themselves, the quotidian
situation of volunteering affected their comprehension of it;
approximately half didn't recognise themselves as volunteers. 'It's
just become part of my [life]... it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything extra' (Krissy).
For Claire's family, voluntarism was 'just something that's part of who we
are'. That volunteering wasn't recognised in ordinary spaces
suggests neglect of these spaces in understanding volunteering's
existence, achievements and significance.
OCC's network operated according to a distinctive moral
geography which volunteers helped sustain; it was deemed ethical
to give gifts to vulnerable children overseas, particularly in the
light of Western wealth and the expected charitable zeitgeist of
Christmas. Consequence of entanglements with personal
circumstances however, OCC meshed with other ethical networks,
like churches, whose moral geographies/imaginaries also then
became significant. Particularly important networks were McKie et
al.'s 'carescapes' (2002); volunteering often became a device for caring
for relatives or friends. Elara and Simone filled shoeboxes as an
activity with their grandchildren. Volunteering thus gained
meaning through connection with family carescapes and became a
deliberate activity. Other volunteers drew in different networks,
making other meanings; for Russell it enabled social bonding in
his church whilst Jane used it to educate her school pupils about
poverty. Volunteering didn't affect other networks
unidirectionally however, as the other ethical structures acted
30
reflexively upon it. In Wiltshire, Helen, Lizzie and Eilidh were
motivated by friendships they'd developed there, 'now we're just all like
sisters' (Helen). In this sense network interconnection sustained
voluntarism. However, connection could also be problematic. For
Helen the intersection of family and volunteering sometimes caused
aggravation- she'd been criticised with comments like 'you ever take
your bed round there?' Despite these potential difficulties, many
interconnections enhanced volunteering experiences.
4.2 The effects of ordinary ethics
This research affirmed Barnett et al.'s (2005) concept of
'ordinary ethics'; volunteers demonstrated ethics including those of
faith, generosity and care in the everyday. In volunteering,
certain of these ethics were 're-articulated'; Caz explained that
her box was 'just another present that I buy each Christmas for a family member or a
friend'- her ethic of care for others, shown by giving, was extended
to distant children. As Barnett et al. (2005) also contended, from
heterogeneous ordinary ethics heterogeneous practices emerge- Caz
demonstrated care by packing shoeboxes, Mary her faith by
knitting. The ordinarily ethical competencies motivating
volunteering weren't articulated exclusively however- other ethics
were practised in connected networks, decisions being potentially
influenced by several ethics enmeshing simultaneously. This was
shown when individuals who valued good financial stewardship
volunteered; their 'ethics of thrift' prompted efforts to pack
shoeboxes cheaply and influenced choices of recipient:
31
“I've just kind of done it on what was cheap, like find out what first few things I buy- oh
what age is that appropriate for? and then try and do it along that line” (Emily).
Often, there was no intention of miserly giving. Instead:
“I just want to get the best sort of quality goods, without going overboard on price wise so
I can fill two boxes” (Daniela).
Here, the combination of ethics sustained and enriched
volunteering, enabling care for multiple children. Simone acted
similarly, shopping cheaply at car-boot sales to fill six boxes.
At times however, ethical networks met unsuccessfully, some taking
precedence and restricting volunteering. Care for grandchildren
for instance reduced summer attendance at Wiltshire warehouse. In
Somerset some thrifty volunteers filled fewer boxes or stopped
altogether to avoid rising costs.
Additionally to influencing practices, the enmeshment of
ordinary ethics affected volunteering spaces, which acquired
multiple, overlapping functions oriented around both volunteers
and beneficiaries. At Wiltshire warehouse, co-ordinator Helen-
motivated by care for both her community and impoverished
children- tirelessly rearranged its furniture for different
events. Monthly coffee mornings raised funds for Samaritan's Purse
projects but other events unrelated to OCC benefited local people.
The warehouse space also served multiple functions for volunteers;
Helen decorated it to provide information about OCC and make an
exciting space where community members- for whom retirement had
32
brought feelings of redundancy and exclusion- could enjoy
volunteering and find 'acceptance', 'community' and 'purpose' (Helen)
re-using their skills from past employment. Helen's dedication
demonstrated a more deliberate, extraordinary commitment than most
volunteers, perhaps akin to practices of 'ethical citizenship' (Cloke et
al. 2007) emerging from, but moving beyond ordinary ethics.
Voluntarism's space-times are ethically complex, constructed
from re-articulated ordinary ethics and heterogeneous others from
their wider lives. In addition to considering policy-based
influences of voluntarism's spaces to understand their
organisation, it is necessary to consider the moral identities and
personal networks of volunteers (Smith et al. 2010). From these,
volunteering draws meaning and through them it is practised,
experienced and understood.
4.2.1 Faith
To inspect ordinary ethics more closely, ethics of faith
can be examined. The Christian faith, which approximately 80% of
volunteers brought to volunteering (or, to which volunteering was
taken), significantly influenced initial and continued engagements
with OCC and comprehension of voluntarism. This is not to say that
motivations like secular humanism weren't encountered nor that
such engagements with OCC weren't instructive, just that analysing
Christian faith enables an exploration of ethical network
intersections.
The meaning of faith to different Christians varies
considerably, although for all, to some extent, it is a moral lens
33
through which the world is interpreted. Through this lens,
particular Biblically principled ethics are adopted and many
Christians seeking deeper faith desire their habituation. For
some, as these moral sensibilities developed, so their willingness
to volunteer increased. Mary, for example developed a keen sense
of justice through her faith:
“to me it seems- it wouldn't have done 20 years ago maybe but it does now- it just seems
so grossly, not unfair... unjust somehow that we have so much... so anything we can
donate, do, give or whatever... let's do it” (Mary).
Faith increased her desire to volunteer, illustrating that to
fully understand volunteering, one must understand personal lives.
Whilst some Christians began supporting OCC for secular
reasons, most had their ethics of faith re-articulated by OCC's
campaigning devices. Several of OCC's videos, posters and leaflets
include Bible verses and phrases like 'God bless you' (Samaritan's
Purse, 2010) alongside requests for volunteers, calling upon
widespread Christian belief that faith is practical (James 2:17,
NIV) to gain attentions and mobilise volunteering responses
(Barnett and Land, 2007). Making volunteering a tool for
Christians expanded its function- Claire filled two shoeboxes
annually to represent and thank God for her two daughters. Others
used volunteering evangelically- to 'sow seeds' (Hannah), to 'get
somebody thinking of an alternative way of, living and, you know believing' (Daniela).
However, faith itself was not unaffected by volunteering. Time
spent filling shoeboxes transformed Keren's initial motivation
from obligation (as a Christian) to love. It prompted her prayer
34
for recipients and generally reaffirmed the value of prayer,
developing her faith.
The coincidence of faith and voluntarism also had collective
effects, partly because churches are popular vehicles for
encouraging and practising volunteering. Groups formed in several
churches to provide 'shoebox shops' for their congregations; these
fostered supportive friendships and a sense of Christian unity.
Each congregation's shoeboxes were also usually gathered in one
place before transportation; the sense of collective achievement
enhanced volunteering for Nikki and Krissy.
“it's always quite exciting, the days when the shoe boxes are being collected in... you get
this sense of achievement and feeling really proud that everyone's done something
together... it's not you independently... it's part of the church and part of fellowship”
(Krissy).
Volunteering in churches was sociable, illustrating the individual
and collective ethics of volunteering. Working at the warehouse
revealed this conviviality, which produced affective atmospheres;
at Wiltshire's Wednesday morning prayer meeting volunteers'
reverent prayers established an atmosphere. Although eluding
description using actor-network theory, this immaterial intensity
produced a sense of tranquillity amongst the volunteers. Sociality
challenges the prevailing view of volunteering as selfishly sought
by individuals pursuing 'moral selving' (Allahyari, 2000). Instead it
attests to the apprehension of volunteering through collective
social networks and the importance of relationship and
interdependence therein.
35
4.3 The perplexing nature of giving spaces
OCC is a double case of giving: volunteers give of themselves
and also ultimately produce gifts. Exploring this giving was meant
to enhance understanding about the complex ethical dimensions of
voluntarism- not to contribute to debates about
altruistic/egoistic motivations. This remit was partly developed
through conversations with volunteers about motivations and
practices. As expected, motivations ranged from compassion to
guilt, derived from encounters with poverty, actual or vicarious.
The quotidian sources of motivations made consequent giving
paradoxical. One paradox related to the relational ethics of
giving. When made charitably to the global South, postcolonial
theory contends that giving can be problematic if not founded upon
contextual understandings of and relationship with Others.
However, the situation of volunteering within personal lives meant
that sometimes ethical giving came from distance, anonymity and
uncertainty, not information and connection. For example, as a
child Julia was berated by her cousins for being doted upon at
Christmastime. She consequently felt guilty and feared the
emotional connections of giving- volunteering out of thankfulness
to God for her prosperity, which she considered morally good,
became problematic. OCC enabled her to anonymously send gifts and
'for the first time... [to be] just showing... that I cared' without guilt.
Consequently, she felt free to omit packing a Christmas card and
photo of herself and desired never to know where or to whom her
36
shoebox went. Julia illustrates how individual experiences
complicate the 'ethical' nature of giving; whilst critical
discourses like postcolonialism are useful ethical guides, they
smooth the tumultuous landscapes of voluntarism where ethics are
“'lived' in the exercise of practical judgements' (Madjar and Higgins, 1995).
Another paradox adds a new dimension to work on the
coexistence of egoistic and selfless motivations in volunteers; in
discussions of giving which arose whilst knitting, several
volunteers exhibited an ethic of care for themselves, revealing
the possibility that some self-interested acting might itself be
altruistic. The care shown was an ordinary concern for personal
health and wellbeing that might be called an 'ethic of catharsis'.
Several arthritic knitters for example, knitted 'to keep them [their
hands] going' (Anna). Anna also explained how by volunteering she
felt useful, which relieved her depression. At the warehouse,
volunteers communed and talked, a practise alleviating loneliness.
Care for oneself might conventionally be assumed selfish- defined
as:
“lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit
or pleasure” (OUP, 2011)
however catharsis wasn't selfishness in a self-indulgent sense-
caring about the self. Instead, it was a respectful caring for the
self. This ethic might be considered akin to 'alternative hedonism'
(Soper and Thomas, 2006), since both involve seeking self
satisfaction and can be motivated by disaffection with
neoliberalism's excesses. Catharsis however wasn't focussed on
37
substituting one set of pleasures for more satisfying ones, but on
meeting existing needs. This concept of ethical care for oneself
challenges the relational nature of Fisher and Tronto's (1990)
definition of care, where attentiveness and responsiveness are “to
needs of the Other”. The concept could perhaps be expanded to include
personal needs.
4.4 Summary
By considering OCC and volunteers' lives as networks, they are
shown as inseparably entangled, influencing and (sometimes)
vitalising one another. Within these networks, multiple ordinary
ethics intermingle, acting as threads weaving OCC into wider
contexts of giving and the fabric of volunteers' lives. This
produces complex, sometimes paradoxical spaces. Volunteering
consequently shouldn't be considered in isolation from volunteers'
lives because it occurs unpaid in disposable time, but instead co-
constructive of them and therefore of import underestimated in
previous readings of volunteering.
38
Chapter 5 Creating and connecting voluntarism's
spaces: the significance of embodiment
The central, malleable devices through which OCC volunteers
act ethically are shoeboxes, gift containers personalised through
creative volunteer performances (figure 10-11). Although according
to Davies et al.'s (2010) typology, the shoebox might be considered
39
an unreciprocated transactional gift, this chapter discusses how
volunteers desire and seek connection with recipients through
their giving.
5.1 Embodied practices of knitting
OCC's campaign revolves around packing shoeboxes, although
additional forms of care ripple out as this device becomes
embedded in individual lives. Some focussed their roles on
particular tasks; Jess ran a shoebox shop, whilst Frances
organised student volunteering at her school. Others with creative
abilities used OCC patterns to knit hats, mittens and puppets.
Knitting is an activity of turning wool into crafts. Simple
knitting is a fairly easy skill to acquire, though honing it can
take years. With practise, detailed knitting can be completed
whilst talking, reading or watching television, although periodic
40
quiet concentration is still required. Most knitters encountered
in this research had knitted throughout their lives and were
significantly skilled.
As a research technique, knitting proved rewarding, although
positionality attributes of age and educational status were
episodically problematic (pp19-20). Nevertheless, it is highly
recommended as a methodological tool for researchers concerned
with life histories, or gerontological accounts particularly;
mobile methodologies do create unique spaces enabling clearer
thinking and verbalisation of views (Hitchings and Jones, 2004)
because in knitting, the periodic necessity of concentration makes
silence socially acceptable and fosters a peaceful atmosphere,
with freedom to contribute or not to discussions. The contrast in
discussions before and during knitting with Kirstie was dramatic.
Before knitting, her comments were short and she seemed uneasy,
but once knitting, the atmosphere calmed and she chatted at
length, even sharing her emotions during volunteering; practise
opened windows onto deep conversations with participants.
Knitting is a craft occupying thoughts, hands and arms,
demonstrating the body's significance to volunteering argued by
Smith et al. (2010). Knitting was as they described 'embodied and
feelingful'- although forming only one experiential layer of place,
other elements of bodily condition (like carpal tunnel syndrome,
diabetes and hip arthoplasty) were also influential. Nevertheless
knitting was also an extraordinary hive of other meaningful
experiences; it was not, as initial inspection might conclude, a
banal habit practised to fill spare time. Firstly, knitting is an
historical and reflective experience. Often learned during
41
childhood from relatives, its practise rouses memories and life
histories. At the warehouse, sharing these memories drew
volunteers together. Individually, memories constituted identities
and life meaning. Shoebox beneficiaries also figured in
reflections- Clara's thoughts often drifted to her knitting
recipient and whether they'd like the item. She was consequently
pernickety about the shape, size and colour coordination of her
gloves, hat and puppet sets. These thoughts and concerns,
alongside volunteers' histories, caused individual approaches and
products unique in stitch, style and composition.
The addictive rhythms of knitting were also therapeutic,
leading to muscle relaxation and relief from arthritis. Linda and
Clara mentioned how knitting helped them think through and resolve
their problems. Finally, knitting was transformative. During
knitting, the atmosphere calmed and volunteers' dispositions
changed too; knitting stimulated reflection on the past, present
and future which didn't cause nostalgia, but appeared to help
volunteers to accept and mentally transcend situations, and plan
their negotiation†. They became more cheerful. Such assistance
mattered in both monumental and ordinary decisions and
consequently knitting- and perhaps volunteering generally- is only
deceptively ordinary and should be considered a critical structure
in volunteers' lives.
††The helpful influence of knitting upon volunteers' abilities to reflect and think prompted me to use knitting during the processing of the results of this study. It proved highly effective in this task and is recommended to other qualitative researchers, regardless of their interests!
42
5.2 Performances of care through shoeboxes
The practices of packing shoeboxes were certainly
performances- enactments embodying motivational ethics, personal
characteristics and emotions. As such, gifts enabled identity
enactments (Butler, 1997)- knitting for instance expressed
creativity and personal tastes. Additionally, boxes embodied love
and care for children, despite geographical distance. This
established connections that transcended the relational limitation
of shoeboxes being transactional gifts (Davies et al. 2010). Nikki
explained:
“you communicate with them [people] by other means at a distance, you know like emails
telephone... a shoebox is definitely one that is really a tangible way for children to
understand love... to have things... when you're little, it's things you can touch and hold”.
Performances raise questions about what ethical care is- most
volunteers never physically encountered recipients, lacked
knowledge of their contexts and didn't even know shoebox
destinations, despite this information being available. This may
strengthen Barnett and Land's argument (2007) that knowledge is
unnecessary for distanced caring, however postcolonial theorists
warn that without some knowledge, caring effectively is difficult.
Nevertheless, limited knowledge didn't prevent volunteers from
acting ethically by their own moral compasses. To them ethical
action was the 'actual giving of the gift to a child' (Elara) showing that they
'were loved and not forgotten' (SamaritansPurseTV, 2010); the connection
itself was prized over contextual knowledge and OCC was trusted to
43
specify unsuitable presents. Whether care without contextual
knowledge can be ethical raises philosophical questions suitable
for another study. Whatever the answers, relational giving through
shoeboxes was desirable and consequently, physically selecting
items and preparing boxes was considered of paramount importance
to volunteering; only Sara expressed interest in using Shoebox
World to send shoeboxes rather than pack personally. It was widely
believed that personal involvement- item creation and/or
selection, colour co-ordination and positioning- would show one's
personality and individual care:
“it's a really personal way to do something, you feel like you're putting a bit of yourself,
into the box... you feel like you're doing more somehow” (Krissy).
Even several housebound volunteers- whose friends filled their
shoeboxes- still inspected and packed boxes personally. The high
value of performance warns against further professionalising the
third sector, which prevents volunteers from demonstrating care
practically.
5.2.1 The affects of performance
Consequence of volunteering performances being embodied-
although exceeding and evading representation- OCC's spaces were
rich with affective atmospheres that formed additional layers of
volunteers' experiences. As Conradson (2003) explained, affects
are immaterial, fleeting sensations whose appreciation cannot be
obtained purely from an actor-network theory approach. This
44
immateriality however doesn't negate their importance- indeed,
affects were the motion behind all emotions emerging from and of
attachment to volunteering. The consequences of affect were
observable during interviews- many volunteers seemed excited,
their eyes glittered and they faltered in finding words (Hannah
and Krissy used sounds of wonder to describe their feelings).
Participatory techniques also helped reveal affect. Watching
promotional videos (containing facial shots of delighted
recipients) over lunch in Wiltshire moved some volunteers to tears
despite the spatial and temporal distance of recipients. Their
prayer meeting also had a lingering affective impact upon the
morning's work. Unfortunately, the critical affective time,
November when shoeboxes are collected and processed, couldn't be
experienced, though its aura endured- there was 'invisible dust still
singing, still dancing' (Thrift, 2000). Despite this limitation, other
affective moments were frequent- donations arriving daily in
Wiltshire always caused excited anticipation of the joy they might
bring. These sensational experiences had affective ethics; they
disposed individuals to seek ways to care for others, like
volunteering. They partly explain OCC's popularity.
5.3 At the nexus of ethics and embodiment: the haptic
geographies of voluntarism
Consequence of volunteering performances being embodied and
the limited visual connection with recipients, there was a will to
connect with recipients through the sense of touch. Whilst some
45
volunteers (Russell and Jane) didn’t believe haptic connection
possible without physical contact, all others did and consequently
volunteering practices and ethical performances need re-examining
from a haptic perspective.
In OCC, touch mattered in multiple ways. In Wiltshire, touch
through hugging, kissing and hand-shaking welcomed and included
volunteers. A central concern though was 'touching' the lives of
distant children through shoeboxes. This turned benevolence to
beneficence (Silk, 1998) and allowed recipients to
kinaesthetically understand the care with which boxes were sent
(Nikki, p32). Haptic encounters take many forms, including a
'caress' (Obrador-Pons, 2007) and a grasp. For Emma, it was 'the
personal touch' in shoebox packing that demonstrated an individual's
imprint and enabled connection despite distance, whilst Flossie
thought her volunteering showed love through 'reaching out'. For
Elara, touch was more literal. She sponsored a child and
corresponded with her- explaining how touching fingerprints on the
letters she'd received enabled indirect contact:
“I thought do you know in a way I've touched this child, she's, however many thousand
miles away but there is that connection, and you know that in the same way if you put a
card into a shoebox... or even when you've put the toys in you know somebody else's hands
are going to take them out, there's a connection however many thousands of miles”.
This highlights the importance of small bodily experiences to
participants, enabling connection across great distances. The
haptic is partly responsible for voluntarism's relational
intimacies and a source of the satisfaction volunteers reported.
46
Perceived connection also generally yielded senses of agency to
help others, not helplessness. Finally touch had ethical
potential; perceived connections promoted continued practices of
faith, caring and loving through volunteering. For Christians
particularly, touch was important- it enabled practises of faith
by providing an opportunity to embody Christ and demonstrate His
love/care. Jane described how her children felt whilst packing:
“they felt very strongly that they were, incarnating if you will, you know they were his
[Jesus'] hands and feet while they were packing the shoeboxes... [they] felt like they were
being Jesus to the children that they were buying these things for”.
Visual touching of gathered shoeboxes in churches also proved
significant to Christians, uniting them as a community (see p26).
5.3.1 (Dis)connection and responsibility
Whilst haptic connection proved central to volunteers'
experiences and there was often passionate enthusiasm for
practical care, the connection volunteers were willing or able to
make often had limits. Volunteering in OCC was frequently a
'reaching out' as Flossie described, but not the grasp of real
connection. Although some mediated this by assisting shoebox
distributions and Caz and Daniela additionally sponsored children
to achieve deeper relationships, for many volunteers, limited
connection was desirable. Julia explained that 'if there was a connection,
I'd feel like there was a responsibility there' and Nikki added:
47
“if you build up a relationship then, umm there's a vulnerability... it becomes a relationship
that may get tricky”.
Such reticence to deepen connections is problematic for meaningful
encounters with Others and paradoxical considering the touching
sought through volunteering. While for Julia (p27) connection
would have prevented ethical action, another possible reason for
disinclination is technological globalisation. By this,
information consumption has increased- including of media raising
poverty awareness and seeking charitable responses. Accompanying
this bombardment has been increasingly mediated and superficial
relationships (Rheingold, 2000) and senses of powerlessness to
effect societal change. Many volunteers responded by involving
themselves minimally in many campaigns, feeling obligated to
respond to as many as possible. Excessive involvement in one cause
was then perhaps feared as inhibitory of caring in other respects
(though to the detriment of establishing close relationships with
Others). Such distanced acting begs the question of whether
appropriate and effective care enriching both volunteer and
recipient is possible when weak social ties and shallow senses of
responsibility prevail.
5.4 Summary
Volunteering practices and performances are many and diverse,
each helping to produce OCC's spaces and volunteers' experiences
and to enact ethics; apprehending voluntarism would be impossible
48
without their consideration. Performances offer haptic connection
through their practical nature, transforming volunteering from a
symbolic, ethical practice to a source of embodied pleasure and
relational satisfaction. Although connection is often merely
reached towards, certain forms of connection (notably haptic) do
arise, enabling caring intimacy between volunteers and recipients.
49
Chapter 6 “ That box is so powerful really isn't it ?” † The
(re)production and negotiation of power structures in
voluntarism.
Since bodies are implicated in giving, various power
structures were established, reproduced and negotiated within
OCC's spaces. However, these processes weren’t simple, especially
since volunteers could affirm or resist them.
6.1 Power amongst volunteers at Wiltshire warehouse
This discussion uses volunteering in Wiltshire to trace the
threads of power woven through voluntarism. Upon first inspection,
the warehouse seemed highly inclusive: opening seven days a week,
all attendees were welcomed and encouraged to participate in
whichever activities they desired. There was no necessary
paperwork, nor time requirements. Helen was proud of their
inclusivity:
† (Hannah)
50
“we accept them as they are... you know if somebody wants to come in and... umm tear up
paper for three hours well there's no pacific thing that they've gotta do, so there's a job for
everybody”.
Furthermore, volunteers were often actively inclusive, encouraging
their friends and family to attend warehouse events. However,
despite this openness, a core demographic persisted of middle
class, senior females, with regular attendees forming a tight-knit
social group bound by shared experiences. Furthermore, as
volunteers reached out, often this was to similar, known others,
reinforcing the established group. Although every volunteer was
welcomed, a sense of being out of place might have been felt (and
indeed was by myself) during volunteering. This sense of
distinction wasn't accreditable to specific dimensions like age or
gender, but instead emerged from multiple intersecting body
markers.
Besides sensings of social in/exclusion, in both Wiltshire and
Somerset volunteering practices reproduced existing societal
gender divisions. This was apparent in that OCC- an organisation
producing Christmas presents to care for children (conventionally
female roles)- had an overwhelmingly high female:male volunteer
ratio, creating a feminised warehouse space. This may have further
deterred male volunteers, exacerbating trends. When males did
volunteer, their roles were distinct; creative tasks and preparing
boxes were largely performed by females, whilst men preferred
managerial and manual labour niches that enabled the demonstration
of more ‘masculine’ attributes (Nixon, 2009). Many volunteers
51
rationalised this division by stereotyping male/female
characteristics. Claire considered men to be 'wired differently',
showing love through fulfilling innate urges to provide:
“...[caring] by putting food on the table and working thirty years at mundane jobs that
would drive women insane”.
Similarly, Russell thought women volunteered because their 'motherly
side' sensitised them to OCC's promotional media whilst their
ability to 'multi-task' and show 'motherly care' facilitated their
subsequent actions. Many women embraced and enjoyed fulfilling
these roles (entrenching their stereotyping as natural carers)
whilst Russell worried that such 'female' practices would challenge
his masculinity. Consequently he and other male volunteers
actively sought to manage their involvement in 'women's work'
(Williams, 2006), demonstrating that voluntarism produces places
'where masculinities are constructed, defined and put to the test' (Lupton, 2000).
Strategies observed included avoiding tasks perceived feminine and
sarcastic downplaying of masculinity through deliberate
performances of effeminacy. However, some men who filled shoeboxes
happily performed ‘women's’ tasks, developing masculinities which
enabled them:
”to move out of traditionally-male occupations and still remain simultaneously
comfortable with their maleness” (ibid).
This may have been facilitated through volunteering spaces where
male involvement was deemed more acceptable, such as private
52
homes, or institutions like churches where involvement was
collective.
Finally, individuals with disabilities may have felt excluded
from OCC. Sara, for example, found involvement hard because her
dyspraxia problematised wrapping boxes. However, she overcame this
by 'bribing' her friend to help her. Less mobile individuals may
have felt excluded by the requirements of filling shoeboxes:
shopping, wrapping, delivery to a drop-off point; or the
requirements of warehouse volunteering: travel, negotiating steps
inside, and fundraising activities like skittles and walking. Some
were deliberately included, however, by caring friends like Hannah
and Anna, who shopped for housebound relatives/acquaintances. OCC
has also begun to rectify this exclusion by establishing Shoebox
World (2010), a tool for filling shoeboxes online (though only
available to those with internet access). Power structures
throughout OCC may be reproduced then, but can be transcended by
caring volunteers and devices- exemplifying deconstructive
volunteering (Holdsworth and Quinn, 2011).
6.2 Neocolonialism in OCC
The motives, practices and experiences of volunteering-
particularly where volunteers and beneficiaries are physically
distanced- are highly influenced by imaginaries, in this case
concerning where/what poverty is, what can/should be done and what
volunteering can achieve. As anticipated, OCC's moral geographies
were tied to the perpetuation of Western-centric imaginaries of
53
distant Others, providing scope for a postcolonial critique:
Volunteers reported that some of their motivating imaginaries were
directly influenced by OCC's promotional devices; OCC's literature
did contain affective images of impoverished children without
socio-political context (figures 1-4) and provided little
information other than that one's shoebox went to 'a child who may be a
victim of war, poverty, disease or circumstance' (OCC, 2005). Many imaginings
came from OCC's promotional videos:
“[It's] the same thing as watching a film of a book, if you read a book then you can
imagine the characters, once you've seen the film, you can't do that any more, because the
film characters are imprinted” (Claire).
OCC's media were likely to reproduce Western-centric envisionings
of poverty that entrenched recipients' statuses as homogeneous,
apolitical victims without voices. Moreover, as volunteering
practices interconnected with personal networks, these imaginaries
received additional nourishment. These included news items and
stories heard from friends. Anna related her imaginaries of
recipients in 'wooden, one room shacks' to television coverage of the
2011 Somalian famine. This fuelled her enthusiasm for
volunteering:
“when I... think of all these kids that have got nothing... you look at the telly and you could
almost cry... so anything I can do to make their life a bit more pleasant, fine”.
This suggests that purposeful re-articulations of ‘ordinary’
ethics (Barnett et al., 2005) by organisational campaigns seeking to
54
mobilise action are supplemented by everyday imaginaries that
emerge from the interconnection of volunteering with lived lives.
OCC's spaces were 'fragranced' with neocolonial representations
of distant Others (Cloke, 2011), which constructed:
“Northern actors as carers who are active and generous, and... Southern actors as cared
for, passive and grateful” (Silk, 2004:230).
Many volunteers consequently perceived children as backward, victims,
poor, uneducated, black, stone-age and cut off, and responded with sadness and
pity. Senses of implication in poverty, and thus responsibility,
were rare. Volunteering practices were shaped more by individual,
familial and/or friendship-based preferences. Though these often
positioned recipients as familial, more akin to Westerners than
Said’s colonial Other, they were still stripped of history, voice
and identity. A more critical, connected caring which hears,
considers and responds to recipients' voices was thus prevented,
provoking questions about the neocolonial potentials of OCC
volunteering. Although OCC's shoebox checking might prevent upset
or harm to recipients, therefore, its care practices might still
reinforce hegemonic relations of power between North and South,
emphasising Western superiority.
6.2.1 Critical and postcolonial voluntarism
The practices of OCC's volunteers were influenced by
multiplicitous imaginaries and ordinary ethics- each individual
desiring to act ethically (according to their own moral compasses)
55
to provide for perceived needs. Whilst neocolonial imaginaries
were evident, these were situated alongside a more critical
‘deconstructive’ volunteering (Holdsworth and Quinn, 2011) that
exposed and resisted other inequalities. For care to be truly
postcolonial, it must emerge from a relational interdependence
that is then extended over distance,
“from interpersonal, proximate relations towards those whom one may not personally
know” (Raghuram et al. 2009).
Through this, and through qualities of attentiveness and
responsiveness (Barnett and Land, 2007), Other voices are
recognised and valorised as ‘irretrievably heterogeneous’ (Spivak,
1988:284).
At the start of this project, it was speculated that
postcolonial volunteering might be possible. Subsequent research
has supported this: Helen’s passion for volunteering led her to,
through personal travel and research, produce large, colourful
displays at Wiltshire warehouse, providing contextual information
about shoebox destination countries that supplemented official OCC
literature. These developed volunteers' understandings of the
Other, equipping them to undertake more appropriate practices.
Elsewhere, Lizzie, Susie and Eilidh developed intimate connections
with recipients by paying to volunteer at shoebox distributions.
This galvanised their efforts to knit things that the children
wanted and later to discern suitable gifts amongst warehouse
donations. Their willingness to revise their actions in the light
of their encounters perhaps demonstrates something of a
56
postcolonial openness to being 'commanded by the Other' (Cloke et al.
2005).
A postcolonial appraisal therefore seemingly suggests that
effective volunteering is controlled by distance; the most
appropriate shoeboxes were produced when volunteers physically
encountered and developed relational knowledges of Others. This
challenges arguments that distance doesn't problematise caring
(e.g. Barnett et al. 2005). However, several other observations
complicate this suggestion. Firstly there were cases where
relational knowledge based on physical proximity to Others wasn't
necessary for care. Some volunteers who couldn't finance meeting
recipients cultivated proximity alternatively by seeking haptic
connections. Touch enabled having senses for Others (Augé, 1998)
since it engendered commitments 'connected' to them (Cloke et al.
2005). Secondly, one case showed that proximity of any form isn't
necessary for appropriate caring: Claire researched online the
average winter temperature of her shoeboxes' destination.
Accordingly, she decided whether to knit in acrylic or warmer
wool. Thirdly, as Barnett and Land (2007) argue, care derives from
attentiveness and responsiveness rather than physical proximity.
These attitudes were exemplified by Frances, who acquired
information about the inappropriateness of some items in her
shoeboxes and immediately demonstrated an attitude of willingness
to replace them. This observation challenged an original
assumption in this study that postcolonial volunteering would be
apparent in the suitability of shoeboxes produced. Postcolonial
volunteering is more than the absence of Western-centrism and a
knowledge of the suitability of products. It is also an attitude
57
of humility and readiness to change in light of encountering
Others. Whilst knowledge has been shown sufficient but not
necessary for care, a sensitivity to Otherness is critical for
postcolonial voluntarism, and does not depend on a particular
positioning within contemporary orders of power and privilege.
Furthermore, it can transcend the patronising power of the gift.
Postcolonial attitudes in voluntarism may then be considerably
more pervasive than surface appearances indicate.
6.3 Summary
The quotidian situation of volunteering involves the
(re)production of various inequalities. Through its social
situatedness, however, volunteering can channel an ethos of
sensitivity towards others, allowing the negotiation of unequal
power structures from within. This has been evidenced particularly
through attention to postcolonial critiques, which position
ethical care as an emergent attitude, without dependence on
physical proximity or relational propinquity to Otherness, or a
particular method of criticality.
58
Chapter 7 Conclusions
This study has explored how and with what consequences
volunteering practices are enmeshed in everyday lives. It has
considered the articulation of ordinary ethics, the significance
59
of embodied practices and the entangled presence of power
inequalities. It presents a 'lively' account of volunteering (as
experienced, affective and embodied- Smith et al. 2010) and attends
to its ethical landscapes, illuminating parts of its tumultuous
and relational terrain and showing volunteering to be embedded
within lived lives. Consequently, the untidy, everyday geographies
of the latter are rendered significant to understandings of the
former. Cautious contributions can thus be made to literatures on
voluntarism, care, giving and haptic geographies.
7.1 The skeins of ordinary ethics
Though a spare time pursuit, volunteering is not isolated from
other life networks. Instead, it is inextricably enmeshed in them,
and is partially constituted by them, acquiring new meaning and
form as a result. Consequently, ordinary life spaces acquire new
ethical significance- volunteering structures depend upon and gain
significance through them. This network coalescence in OCC
exemplifies how actor-networks have convoluted interrelations,
constructing a more expansive field of voluntarism than has
previously been considered in research or policy.
Volunteering is personally significant to volunteers partly
because of its interrelation with ordinary ethics. OCC's campaigns
enrolled volunteers by articulating certain ordinary ethics which
subsequently- as Cloke et al. (2007) suggested- influence practices.
These operate alongside other sets of ethics situated within
volunteer lives, lending the practices and spaces of voluntarism
60
multiple, sometimes contradictory meanings. Consequently, a deep
understanding of the landscapes of voluntarism cannot be gleaned
solely from studying the ethics articulated by OCC, or broader
third sector trends. The complex contexts of personal lives and
social networks are also needed. Equally, voluntarism must be
valorised for its insights into wider life. Considering their
cartographies separately impoverishes understandings of both.
An understanding of volunteer networks emerged particularly
through an examination of faith-based ethics. These accord
volunteering different meanings and significances, notably in
helping develop collective religious identities. As such,
volunteering connects into, helps produce and bears ethical
meaning for both individuals and their collective structures.
Current trends towards third sector corporatisation will arguably
detract from this positive contribution.
That some volunteers were selfishly motivated also threatens
the ethical potentials of volunteering, and is evidence
accompanying that of OCC's origins- addressing need after the
Romanian state collapsed- supporting the prevailing negative view
of volunteering (p4). However, data also demonstrated Cloke et
al.’s (2010) conception of volunteering as selfless service,
emphasising relational connection rather than autonomy.
Voluntarism thus contains elements of both, elaborately
intermingled, corroborating Kendall and Knapp's (1995) contention
that volunteering is a “loose and baggy monster”.
7.2 Knitting (two) together: the significance of embodied
61
performances
Using participatory techniques to understand voluntarism's
embodied performances proved effective, highlighting the potential
value of mobile methodologies for both geographical and
gerontological research. The rich resources gathered through these
techniques enable a more expansive meaning of volunteering to be
delineated. Whilst previous definitions highlight its practical
purpose of serving others, this work corroborates Yeung (2004) by
showing that giving through volunteering is inseparable from
receiving. Volunteering can thus be considered a dialogic process.
This study redefines volunteering as an embodied, affective,
transformative phenomenon with the dual capacity of conversing
with recipients and volunteers physically, psychologically and
emotionally.
Examining volunteering performances also affords insights into
its embodied dimensions. Firstly, performances practically embody
volunteers' ordinary ethics. They are also therapeutic and
transformative, helping to construct both voluntary spaces
(Conradson, 2003) and volunteers' lives. Thirdly, performances
enable a variety of connections to be established between
volunteers and recipients. The physical packing of shoeboxes, for
example, offered participants the possibility of relational caring
despite distance, enabling demonstrations of committed care for
Others that moved beyond beneficence (Silk, 2004). Others,
however, favoured more intimate (effective) forms of care. Whilst
research here considered OCC, Elara's value of touch (p35) in
other charitable giving attests to its wider importance.
62
7.3 Weaving in and casting off power structures
The research found that, testament to voluntarism's
interconnectedness with volunteer histories and life networks, its
praxis symbolically, affectively and discursively reproduces
particular inequalities and exclusions. For instance, whilst the
study initially presumed that postcolonial voluntarism would be
evident in the choice of shoebox products, neocolonial assumptions
and signs of 'Othering' (Spivak, 1985) were instead evident.
However, some volunteers attempted to reflexively negotiate power
structures from within, displaying a more postcolonial voluntarism
through their seeking out of relationship and willingness to
improve the suitability of their gift choices. Contrary to
distance-dependent models of care, therefore, ethical care does
not need proximity.
Before volunteering practices are written off as neocolonial,
then, a fuller understanding of their spatialities would be
instructive, through contextualised knowledges of volunteers and
their networks. Postcolonial mentalities are present in
volunteering and deserve encouragement.
7.4 Tying up loose ends: suggestions for further research
There are numerous opportunities for further research. The
empirical omission of child volunteers, for instance, provides one
63
such point of entry; understandings of voluntarism would
undoubtedly benefit from the views and experiences of these
“competent social actors” (Holloway and Valentine, 2000). Additionally,
research involving shoebox recipients could expand discussions of
the haptic dimensions of volunteering, the quality of voluntary
care at a distance and the relationality of giving through OCC.
64
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Appendix: Specimen interview schedule
The semi-structured interviews were flexible; topics and questionswere selected to prompt conversation as necessary. Other questionswere asked to follow volunteers' comments, meaning they could direct conversation.
OCC in general Can you tell me a little about your involvement with OCC? Why did you choose this way of helping children? There are other organisations besides OCC that organise shoe
boxes, why OCC particularly? What information did/do you receive from OCC and what do you
most value? How does the information make you feel? Do you ever try to recruit new volunteers and if so- how?
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Shoeboxes How do you go about filling a shoebox? What do you normally choose and why to put in? How do you store what you collect up? Do you choose a particular gender/age of child, if so why? Do you shop/fill/wrap shoeboxes alone or with other people?
◦ Do they influence you?◦ Do you enjoy this collective part of volunteering?
What does packing a shoebox mean to you?
Personal involvement What are the most important reasons why you keep volunteering
for OCC? What do you gain personally from your involvement? Lots of people say that it's better to give money or useful
goods than impractical presents. How would you respond to that?
What do you find the most enjoyable/rewarding part of your involvement is?
The current OCC system means that most volunteers are quite disconnected from shoebox recipients. Is this something that troubles you?
Have you ever considered going on a shoebox distribution trip? How do you think that would make you feel?
For Christians The aim of OCC is “to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy
children around the world, and... share the Good News of Jesus Christ”Would you say your faith has always played a part in your involvement?How?
“Peace, hope, love, joy.. It's amazing what you can fit in a shoebox.” Do you think it's possible (and if so how do you try) to show these through a shoebox?
In the past, people have said that it's more difficult to care for someone far away from you than someone close to you-how would you respond?
For knitters When did you first ever learn to knit? Have you knitted all your life? When did you take up knitting for OCC? Any reasons besides
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wanting to help the organisation? Why knitting? Did you feel that filling a shoebox alone
wasn't enough? What do you make and why? What patterns do you use? When do you do your knitting/where/how often? Does your knitting go elsewhere? If so/not why? What do you personally benefit from knitting? If you weren't knitting what would you be doing? How would
that make you feel?
Power Who do you think are the people filling the majority of shoe
boxes? Why do you think that is? Who do you think might not be so involved and why? How do you think (those not involved) might be more included? OCC have recently launched an online shoebox filling service
called Shoebox world. Do you think that this digital element might encourage (those not involved) to become involved?
Would you consider switching to using the online service? Why/why not?
For men How do you feel other men perceive OCC? Do you feel that filling shoeboxes might challenge your
masculinity?
Shoebox geography and imaginaries. Do you know where they go? Do you mind not knowing where the boxes go? How do you imagine these children? What do you think they
might be like and how do you think they live? Are you happy with their choice of countries? More broadly, why do you think these children live in
poverty? Do you feel that it's your duty/responsibility as a Western
person to do something about this and does this play a part in motivating your involvement?
Reflections Has your involvement in OCC ever inspired or challenged you
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to become involved in any other volunteering? If you had power in OCC for one day, what would you change
and why? Do you look on your involvement with OCC as a form of
volunteering? How would you define volunteering? Do you feel satisfied with your involvement and the work OCC
are doing for these children?
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