African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development

Öhlmann, Philipp; Gräb, Wilhelm; Frost, Marie-Luise

doi:10.4324/9780367823825

Cited by 36 publications

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“…Growing energy and literature surrounding decolonising practices offers vital insight (Öhlmann, Gräb and Frost 2020). However, much of this literature argues for an expansion of existing models.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It therefore remains that 'the SDG s do not effectively address the 10. 30965/27507955-20220011 | Religion & Development (2023) 1-24 human -nature -well-being interrelationship' (van Norren 2020), nor do they acknowledge the importance of religion and spirituality in the lives of the majority of the world's population (Öhlmann, Gräb and Frost 2020). The fact that the 2030 Agenda did not incorporate these alternatives suggests that it is not enough to know about them -western development agendas need to be transformed by them in order to decentre dominant notions of progress and development.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The individual knowledges referred to in Berry include empirical, experience, traditional, religious, inborn, intuition, conscience, inspiration, sympathy, bodily and counterfeit knowledge. 9 See for exampleÖhlmann, Gräb and Frost (2020). Downloaded from Schoeningh.de03/27/2023 07:18:43AM via free access…”

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confidence: 99%

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Expanding Imaginations for a Post-2030 Agenda: The Interaction between Christian and Indigenous Spiritualities in the Philippines

Bridger

2023

Relig. Dev.

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Encounters with marginalised spiritualties and religions can assist in the creation of a post-2030 agenda that recognises the limitations of existing ideas of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘progress’, the necessity of which is evidenced by our worsening climate and ecological crisis. The acknowledgement that religion plays an important role in the lives of the majority of the world’s population has led to increased partnerships between religious communities, humanitarian and development practitioners, and policy makers. At best, this has resulted in fruitful partnerships with those whose world views fit into predefined understandings of religion and development. At worst, it has led to the instrumentalisation of religious and spiritual leaders to implement western, individualistic, capitalist, anthropocentric ideas of development. Knowledge flows have remained unidirectional with the aforementioned partnerships yet to see the transformative potential of engaging with a greater diversity of religious and spiritual communities when imagining a post-2030 agenda. This paper draws on ethnographic engagement and interviews with the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and Lumad Indigenous people in the Philippines to highlight how learned ignorance, encounters and horizontal relationships can expand individual and collective imagination – deconstructing imperial imaginations and prioritising people and planetary flourishing above profit. It highlights the potential way in which diverse subaltern, abyssal and decolonial movements can be engaged to support a burgeoning of ecologies of knowledge capable of challenging hegemonic understandings of ‘progress’ and ‘development’, essential to the post-2030 debate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Expanding Imaginations for a Post-2030 Agenda: The Interaction between Christian and Indigenous Spiritualities in the Philippines

Bridger

2023

Relig. Dev.

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“…The secular-religious tension also surfaces in church-based international development cooperation in the form of debates on the relationship between mission and development (see, for example, Gühne 2019;Öhlmann et al 2020a;Öhlmann, forthcoming;WCC and ACT Alliance 2022;Werner and Gühne 2018;Znoj and Zurschmitten 2019), as well as in the debate on faith and professionalism in the context of humanitarian work (Steinke 2017(Steinke , 2020Wilkinson 2020). It also surfaces in the WCC/ACT Alliance document on ecumenical diaconia, which, on the one hand, acknowledges the integrity of "Diakonia and evangelism," as "the spiritual dimension of development is as important as the social or material dimension" (WCC and ACT Alliance 2022, p. 40), while, on the other hand, religion is relegated to the level of mere motivation for diaconal action ("What is distinct for diaconal actors is that they refer to religious concepts, in addition to secular, when explaining their action and its objective", WCC and ACT Alliance 2022, p. 68), and it remains unclear how diaconia is conceived of to be qualitatively different from non-religious social practice.…”

Section: The Secular-religious Dichotomy As a Common Point Of Contentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diaconia and Development: The Study of Religious Social Practice as Lead Discipline in the Religion and Development Debate

Öhlmann

2023

Religions

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In this article, I argue that the research field of religion and development and diaconal studies, the study of Christian social practice, share a common subject of inquiry: the social impact of religion. The field of religion and development investigates this mainly with a focus on the Global South and within the discursive framework of the concept of development, while diaconal studies has thus far taken a Christian perspective and a historic focus on the Global North. Recent paradigm shifts in the development discourse (post-development critique, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a global framework, critique of the secularist approach) put the field of religion and development under pressure to broaden its scope. Moreover, there is no clear lead discipline in the religion and development debate yet, raising questions about its disciplinary location in academic institutions and curricula. The field of diaconal studies is challenged by increasing religious pluralism and under pressure to consider perspectives from the Global South. Impulses from the recent advances in the conceptualisation of ecumenical diaconia as a new paradigm of Christian social service push the field to move beyond its historic focus on assistance and care. The aim of this article is to juxtapose these two fields of academic study and to bring them into mutual dialogue. The article reflects on both fields and their respective advantages and disadvantages and highlights areas of overlap. It goes on to propose a broadened discipline of diaconal studies, reshaped as the Study of Religious Social Practice, as a new academic field. The focus of this field would be the impact of religion on society in global perspective, across religious traditions and geographic contexts.

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“…This article has suggested that, if intimate spaces were integral to the colonial project, as has been well established (Stoler, 2002, 2006), we should look to domestic dwellings again to increase ethnographic understanding of decolonization as a project involving both metropole and colony. This work is necessary to complement a more prominent scholarly focus on the institutional and theological work to decolonize global Christianities (see, e.g., Foster, 2019; Joy and Duggan, 2012; Öhlmann et al, 2019; Sanneh, 2003).…”

Section: Conclusion: the Politics Of Christian Home Collectionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Malagasy art on the move: Materiality, home displays, and problems in decolonizing Christianity

Halvorson

2020

Journal of Material Culture

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This article explores how white US Christians’ home displays, including their decorative presentation of paintings, small sculptures, and other memorabilia of foreign travel, play a critical role in representing imperial geographies. Drawing upon long-term ethnographic research on the current aid partnership between Lutherans in the US and Madagascar, which stems from American Lutheran mission work in southern Madagascar (1888–2004), the article studies the relationship of contemporary white Minnesotans’ home displays about Madagascar with more historically-established projects of colonial knowledge production. The visual dimensions of materiality have been significant for building traces and imaginaries of far-flung places for home or metropole audiences in Christian colonization. Thus, by placing theories of Christian souvenirs and devotional objects in dialogue with work on Christian colonialism, the author examines home displays as a lesser-considered aspect of the colonial project in the metropole and considers the problems they raise for contemporary efforts to decolonize Christianity.

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African Initiated Christianity and the Decolonisation of Development

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Expanding Imaginations for a Post-2030 Agenda: The Interaction between Christian and Indigenous Spiritualities in the Philippines

Expanding Imaginations for a Post-2030 Agenda: The Interaction between Christian and Indigenous Spiritualities in the Philippines

Diaconia and Development: The Study of Religious Social Practice as Lead Discipline in the Religion and Development Debate

Malagasy art on the move: Materiality, home displays, and problems in decolonizing Christianity

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