Voluntary Spaces

Abstract

Voluntary spaces and practices can appear in academic research in a variety of ways. Geographers have examined volunteering and the workings of voluntary spaces in order to understand a range of different social and environmental issues. Researchers may also encounter them as they move through their research, perhaps in the quest for information, or through their interactions with individuals. In this chapter we examine critical work on the relationship between volunteering, neoliberalism, and the reworking of state-citizen relations and we question the assumption that voluntarism is inherently good. We resort to the case of a soup kitchen at the Asamblea Plaza Dorrego-San Telmo in Buenos Aires, Argentina to reflect on a series of practical issues that are worth considering when working with or in voluntary spaces, including an extended reflection on the dilemmas posed when the roles of researcher and volunteer become blurred.