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- Convenors:
-
Emma Tomalin
(University of Leeds)
Jennifer Philippa Eggert (National Centre for Social Research (NatCen))
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- Formats:
- Roundtables
- Stream:
- Decolonial and anti-racist perspectives
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 30 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This roundtable brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss the nexus of decolonisation, development and faith. It explores the contribution, limitations and complicity of faith actors and researchers in the development/aid sector from a decolonised and anti-racist perspective.
Long Abstract:
This research/practice roundtable focuses on the nexus of decolonisation, development and faith. Debates on anti-racist and decolonised approaches amongst development/humanitarian researchers and practitioners acknowledge that local communities are central agents in their own liberation, yet they continue to be marginalised in decision-making and resource allocation by large parts of the international aid/development sector. The majority of people worldwide identify with a faith. The role of faith is often particularly strong in the 'Global South'. Local capacities, social capital, leadership, expertise, networks and service provision are often faith-based. Ignoring the contribution of faith in development/aid devalues pivotal dimensions of people's lived experiences and diminishes their sources of power, legitimacy, accountability and resilience. An inability to speak authentically as faith actors contributes to the erasure of non-white cultures and non-Western faiths. Yet faith actors are not immune from anti-racist and decolonial critique, and often have complex and contested histories that involve colonialism, missionaries, and conversions. Faith communities have a mixed record when it comes to challenging racism and other forms of systemic discrimination. Faith-based organisations perpetuate the same white supremacist culture and racist and (neo)colonial development and faith legacies as the broader aid/development sector, by failing to acknowledge colonial legacies, neo-colonial practices, the dominance of Western theological constructs, complicity in broader racist structures, and hierarchical power dynamics. Research on religion and development has not sufficiently contended with these concepts, if at all. This panel aims to give a higher profile to this much needed debate.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 30 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
Dr Seb Rumsby is an early career scholar based at University of Warwick’s department for Politics and International Studies. Having completed his PhD thesis on the intersections of religious transformation, ethnic politics and marketisation in Vietnam’s highlands,
Paper long abstract:
Researching Christian conversion and grassroots development among the ethnic Hmong, who sit at the bottom of Vietnam’s ethnic hierarchy, involves complex questions about history, power relations and positionality. While Vietnam as a whole was subject to French imperialism for decades which has profoundly shaped its communist-party-led independence, Vietnam’s minority highlanders have undergone a further ‘internal colonisation’ in the form of state territorialisation, mass (ethnic majority) lowlander immigration and dispossession of land. What’s more, Vietnam’s government has opposed and treated Christian conversion among ethnic minorities with suspicion as a potential ‘neo-imperial’ plot by external enemies to undermine the socialist authorities. This experience of ‘double colonisation’ leads to surprising dynamics whereby it might be easier for a Western outsider to gain the trust of Hmong research participants than state-aligned local Vietnamese researchers. On the other hand, political critique of state oppression and structural ethnic discrimination among Hmong Christians tends to uncritically align with right-wing evangelical discourses about the evils of communism and the need for Vietnam to follow Christian-capitalist economies like USA and South Korea. How, then, do we decolonise in two seemingly opposite directions – pushing back on both Vietnamese ethnic chauvinism and the idea of free-market development which is ultimately rooted in neo-colonial Western power relations?
Paper short abstract:
The decolonisation debate recognises the intersectionality of diversity and inclusion debates but starts with a new counter narrative to the deep systemic problem of asymmetric power that emerges from a pedagogy that the global south are not ready to take control of their destiny
Paper long abstract:
Since 2020 there has been a renewed discussion within the international development and humanitarian sector around decolonisation.
For many multilateral and international organisations, it has been convenient to focus on discussions of racism and discriminations as opposed to looking at the deeper systemic problem of asymmetric power that comes for a pedagogy that the brown and black subjects are not ready to take control of their destiny. In addition for faith based organisations (FBOs), it is easy to forget that the global aid industry is the grandchild of the colonial missionaries and is a result of the hangover of colonialism.
In recent times decolonisation has been co-opted to discuss diversity and inclusion, social justice and social good. We need to understand the narrative of decolonisation, colonial, localisation and the intersection with diversity, equality and inclusion. Yet they are not the same! Decolonisation is about coming up a with a new ‘paradigm’ of thinking and approach that interrogates the localisation agenda, provides agency to the ‘local’, that has a pedagogy of liberation and freedom that works in partnership with the affected community. In particular for FBOs, it is a challenge to disrupt the system and upend the structure according to their faith traditions, to take the risk, to have the right actors at the table and to hear their voices. This is where the discussion and the thinking has to start and be explored.
Paper short abstract:
This paper tries to understand role of Mata Amritanandamayi Math’s (MAM- a global Hindu FBO from Kerala, India) vision of ‘selfless service to humanity’ and the model of faith inspired development emanating therefrom, towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India.
Paper long abstract:
The emerging field of research on religion and development has opened up a new array of questions regarding the developmental potential of religion and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in the contemporary world. Religion plays an unprecedentedly significant role and has deeper roots in everyday social life in India today. Though there are a good number of studies on International Islamic and Christian FBOs involved in humanitarian activities, there is a dearth of academic works that focus on Hindu FBOs in India. Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM) is a global Hindu FBO from Kerala, India, led by a spiritual guru named Mata Amritanandamayi. In contrast to the western-secular models, MAM offers a path of development inspired by Hindu values of seva-selfless service to humanity and love. This paper tries to critically understand the role of MAM and the model of faith inspired development emanating therefrom towards realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India. It also attempts to locate MAM among the other Hindu religious and spiritual leaders and community organizations in the trajectory of the renowned development path of Kerala often termed as ‘Kerala model of Development’. Additionally, given the history of Kerala’s state supported, welfare oriented developmental experience, this paper also seeks explore how can such new modes of developmental initiatives and resource mobilizations redraw the contours of development theory and practice in Kerala.
Paper short abstract:
This panel paper will argue the importance of a widespread transition to black leadership within South African FBO’s as part of the task of dismantling the vestiges of white supremacy and thus promoting decolonisation in the FBO sector.
Paper long abstract:
The South African Christian FBO sector is core to the non profit sector in South Africa and according to a recent study, SA FBO’s regard their faith roots as intrinsic to their work. While the nature of South Africa’s poverty and inequality remain racially skewed, with the black populace still disproportionately affected by the dual legacy of Apartheid and Colonialism , it would appear that many FBO’s are disproportionately led by white South Africans, who may not be as aware as they should be of the ways in which the vestiges of white supremacy continues to impact upon their work. This panel paper will argue the importance of a widespread transition to black leadership – and the role faith and liberation theology can play in this shift - in such organizations in order for the notion of decolonization to be fully realized.