Ironic Encounters: Posthumanitarian Storytelling in Slum Tourist Media

Abstract

We argue that slum tourist media exemplify a distinct and growing narrative genre about posthumanitarian travel: ironic encounters. In ironic encounters, Global North tourists construct a humanitarian Self through their firsthand engagement with suffering in the Global South. In these stories, tourists present their travels as essential for coveted experiential knowledge while depicting locals as the true beneficiaries of the tourists’ self-discovery. We examine 3 high-profile texts produced by visitors of Kibera, a densely populated low-income community in Nairobi, Kenya: the BBC special Famous, Rich and in the Slums,the book Megaslumming,and aWhite Houseslideshow aboutJillBiden’s tour of Kibera. Emblematic of ironic encounters, these texts ultimately justify slum tourism as a humanitarian act.