PEACE CORPS IN THE 21 ST CENTURY: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS

93impression of the “real” lives of the other and the “real” lives of the volunteer. Thenarratives derived from pictures tell a specific story at a specific time; however, this storyhas no caption in Peace Corps rhetoric. The image tells a story without comment; theorganization does not guide a reading of the photographs.The narrative of development came to life through the sharp contrast between thefirst and third worlds. At moments, we see the collision of those two worlds, butgenerally, a rhetoric of development focuses on people in need of modernization. Thissets the volunteer role in motion, creating a space for the American volunteers in lessdeveloped nations. This liberal developmentalism has serious political and ideologicalramifications. The story of liberal developmentalism is complex, but basically goes likethis: during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, American liberalism reached itsheight of power and influence, and specifically liberal developmentalism is theinternational arm of this generational idealism. 166With it, liberal developmentalismcarries an assumption that in order to develop a country, Americans have to understandand respect its culture and people as well as understand their own American culture. Theexchange of cultures for the sake of development is a farce; as we can see in thisphotographic narrative, the “other” is always connected to exoticizing of people, customs,traditions, and dress. The narrative of development is clearly a story of modernizing thethird world.Finally, such photographs reinforce the written narrative explored in ChapterTwo, the narrative of adventure. The photographic story of service excludes anyhardship, poverty, rugged living and working conditions, or sickness that a volunteermight encounter during his or her two years of service. It is no surprise that the