PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

80very many children at all. These images are entirely different than the images we findnow. Today, no such images of volunteering or of native peoples exist. Volunteers arerarely shown working, host country nationals are shown relaxing, often surrounded bychildren, who are most often resting, smiling, dressed in clothing of another world, andsitting in front of beautiful landscapes. I ask, for the purposes of this chapter, in whatways do these photographs change or reinforce ideas about others held by their viewers?And how might these photographs influence how the viewers view volunteer service?Images of the Developing WorldThe SmileThe smile idealizes the happiness of people in the developing world and reflects astereotype of general contentment. Americans are given the idea that indigenous peopleare blissfully happy in the countries where volunteers serve. This is a commonmisconception threaded through American discourse on the developing world. Asmentioned in Chapter One, President Carter understood the “third world” to besophisticated and complex. But, upon Reagan’s election to the Presidency, he framed the“third world” as nothing “more than primitives.” 157The Reagan administration saw thisworld as simple people living simple lives. This mentality runs through the Americanconsciousness. We know the “other” is impoverished and lacking necessary resourcesfor subsistence; however, we see them smiling, blissfully ignorant of their livingconditions. The smile in photographs reinforces the people of these poorer countries assimple, content with their primitive lives.