Tourism is a fast growing phenomenon. As every person has a different motivation to travel new and alternative forms of tourism are continuously developing. Depending on form of tourism and the tourist’s motivation to take on a certain trip, the experience has a smaller or bigger impression on the individual. This study examines what influences volunteer trips can have on identities, focusing on volunteers in the organization WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. To understand the development of identities, theories about identity work have been researched. The material derives from a participant observation and 14 semi-structured interviews that mainly were conducted in Oregon, USA. The analysis of the results reveals four main themes for how the individuals’ identities have changed and what factors that have caused this change. These themes are perceived change, cultural exchange, significance of place, and differences between WWOOFers and other tourists. The study shows that travels, in this case volunteer trips, affect individuals in many ways. / Turism är ett snabbt växande fenomen. Eftersom varje person har egna motiv till att resa utvecklas ständigt nya och alternativa resformer. Vilket avtryck resan gör på individen beror på vald turismform samt turistens motiv till att åka på en viss resa. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka influenser en volontärresa kan ha på individen, med fokus på volontärer som reser genom organisationen WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. För att förstå hur identiteter utvecklas har identitetsteorier tillämpats på materialet. Materialet kommer från en deltagande observation och 14 semistrukturerade intervjuer som övervägande gjorts i Oregon, USA. Analysen av resultatet visade på fyra teman för hur volontärers identiteter påverkats. Dessa var upplevd förändring, kulturellt utbyte, platsens betydelse och hur volontärturisterna skiljer sig från andra turister. Studien visar därmed på att resor, i detta fall volontärresor, påverkar individen på flera olika sätt. / Le tourisme est un phénomène en pleine expansion. Chaque personne a un motivation différent pour voyager, donc des nouvelles formes et des formes alternatives du tourisme se développent continuellement. La forme du tourisme et le motivation du touriste déterminent l’effet du voyage sur l’individu.  Cette étude examine l’influence des voyages bénévoles sur les identités des bénévoles, avec un foyer sur les bénévoles dans l’organisation WWOOF--World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (Occasions Mondial sur les Fermes Biologiques). Pour comprendre le développement des identités, il faut rechercher les théories d'identité. Ces matériaux dérivent de l’observation participante et 14 interviews semi-structurées, la plupart qui était menée en Oregon, aux États-Unis.  L'analyse des résultats révèlent quatre thèmes principaux pour comment les identités des individus ont changé, et quels facteurs ont causé ces changements. Ces thèmes sont les changements perçu, l'échange culturel, l’importance de l’endroit, et les différences entre les bénévoles de WWOOF et des autres touristes. Cette étude montre que les voyages, en ce cas les voyages bénévoles, touchent les individus dans plusieurs façons.

One important aspect of sustainable tourism is that local communities are involved in the management of tourism, as this can potentially help avoid negative social, environmental and economic impacts on the destination and local residents. Workaway and WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) are work- and cultural exchange programs in which hosts receive help with their work in exchange for free food and accommodation for guests. Since the hosts are in charge of deciding if, when, and how to host guests, Workaway and WWOOF could be seen as a type of community-based tourism where locals initiate and manage tourism themselves. This study applied a qualitative case study approach using semi-structured interviews and participant observation to investigate Workaway and WWOOF hosts’ motivations for becoming hosts, as well as their experiences as hosts, on the island of Gotland, Sweden, which has not been explored so far in other research. It further aimed to discover how Workaway and WWOOF may or may not contribute to sustainable tourism besides empowering the host. The research results indicated that Gotland’s WWOOF and Workaway hosts were motivated to become hosts from a combination of needing help with work and wanting to meet new people. Their experiences as hosts have many benefits, such as receiving help with work, making lasting friendships, and traveling through their guests, but also some challenges, such as the effort of hosting guests, having difficult guests and a clash of expectations between guest and host. Similarly, while WWOOF and Workaway seem to contribute to sustainable tourism by making hosting and traveling accessible to many people or spreading awareness about sustainability, among other aspects, these programs could also deter from sustainable tourism by being available mostly to privileged guests and hosts or potentially displacing local workers, among other aspects. Though far from perfect, Workaway and WWOOF nevertheless enable local hosts to benefit from tourism, which is not always the case.

Family farms practicing organic agriculture often struggle to make a profit. Unable to pay wages, farms are increasingly recruiting laborers who agree to work without pay, instead receiving food and accommodation. To date, there has been little research examining everyday life in farm households shared by familial owner-operators and non-waged laborers. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at organic farms in the southeastern United States, this thesis describes how farm work, housework and consumption are organized in these households. Situating my analysis within debates on the agrarian question, I investigate how the recruitment of non-waged labor affects the ability of farm-family households to reproduce themselves. My findings suggest that, though farm owner-operators recruit non-waged laborers with the expectation of solving labor challenges, their recruitment produces numerous conflicts internal to the household. I analyze how farm owner-operators deploy scale constructions to defend and legitimize arrangements of productive and social-reproductive work which preserve the ability to self-exploit. I also show how laborer’s bodies are identified as both the problem and the solution in conflicts over consumption. Through attention to the lived experiences of farmworkers, this thesis contributes to debates concerning the social sustainability of organic farming.

This thesis explores how the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) network may constitute a form of sustainable tourism on the Baltic Island of Gotland, Sweden. To do this, I narrate my own personal journey as a WWOOF volunteer trying to find my way as an organic farmer, in an autoethnographic account of my experience at Tjeldervik Gård during the spring and summer of 2023. In the account, I make observations concerning economic, environmental, and social/cultural sustainability, focusing especially on my interpretations. In this way, I hope to shed more light on WWOOF from the perspective of sustainable tourism studies, and to contribute by sharing one of few first-hand accounts as a WWOOF volunteer reflecting on more established knowledge. 2.14.0.0 / <p>2.14.0.0</p>

This study focuses on volunteers within the non-profit organization ‘WWOOF’ World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farming, which provides individuals the opportunity to experience a sustainable organic farming through volunteering.  As sustainability needs to be more valued within society and as individuals are seen to develop similar values from their social surrounding, the study examines how being a volunteer on a WWOOF farm influences the volunteer’s personal development. The material findings of 20 semi-structured interviews from previous WWOOF volunteers were collected and indicated four main outcomes: increased environmental awareness, community awareness, a sustainable lifestyle and personal growth among the volunteers. The outcomes are discussed in relation to the following main theories and concepts: sustainable worldview theory, symbolic interactionism, social identity theory, the Third Space and narrative identity theory. The sustainable societal values achieved among the volunteers indicated that being a volunteer on a WWOOF farm, can contribute to improve the global community