VAKIFAS INTENT AND PRACTICE: CHARITY AND POOR RELIEF IN TURKEY

Abstract

Through ethnographic and archival research conducted in Istanbul and Izmir, this article examines the dynamics and regulation of charitable giving in contemporary Turkey. The article is based on interviews I conducted with the volunteers, employees, and aid recipients of three civil society organizations that rely on charitable giving to fund their projects, which center on helping the poor and providing aid during and after wars and other disasters. I document how religious ideals of anonymous charitable giving for the sake of giving, without expectation of return, are closely intertwined with anxiety over finding a worthy charitable association and recipient. In doing so, I focus on vakıf as both a concept and a practice that gives meaning to charitable giving in Turkey. The increasing desire to document, define, and categorize the deserving poor as a way to justify the intent to give and to receive goes against the anonymity and immediacy of giving, thus riddling intent with ethical contradictions. I argue that attention needs to be paid to the intent, practice, and various forms of giving, and not just to the effects and outcomes of charity.

Aid and Gendered Subjectivity in Rural Guatemala

“…Sahlins (2004) expands this to allow for 'negative reciprocity', or giving when socio-political inequalities are such that gifts cannot be reciprocated. Subsequent scholars note how, under conditions of asymmetric gifting, recipients reciprocate not materially but by acting as deserving subjects who demonstrate gratitude (Bourdieu, 1990;Hattori, 2001;Isik, 2014;Korf, 2007). Invoking these theories, we find that NGOs in Guatemala perceive the aid they transfer as gifts their beneficiaries should affectively reciprocate.…”

Sharia, charity, andminjianautonomy in Muslim China: Gift giving in a plural world

“…Specifically, when Hui give to elevate their standing in their communities, they may do so more in line with Chinese convention than Koranic prescriptions. Self‐interest in Islamic charitable gifting introduces ethical contradictions in intent and practice (Isik ; Singer , 8, 64, 223). For my purposes, ethicized reflections (or the lack thereof) are analytic windows in reconsidering the “free” nature of such gifts.…”

The Role of Sincerity as a Motivating Factor to Work for Non-Profit Organizations

“…Where the development of waqf institutions is solely carried out for an interest in seeking profit, without the awareness that these waqf assets should be managed in the hope of blessing God. Sincerity makes the wakif relationship as a donor with nadzir as a manager more than an institutional relationship, waqf can be described as practical and ideological loyalty in the charity community, where the sincerity of wakif and nadzir brings a feeling of peace and comfort for both parties (Isik, 2014).…”