Prayer, Patronage, and Personal Agency in Nicaraguan Accounts of Receiving International Aid

Abstract

This article examines how religious beliefs and practices influence the reception of international relief and development aid in impoverished communities. Specifically, I explain how Nicaraguan recipients' prayers both enhance and constrain their ability to assert themselves as "empowered" actors during aid interactions. Data come from observations and interviews over a two-year period with 81 Nicaraguans in communities that receive aid from Christian development organizations. Compared to secular constructions of aid interactions, prayers provide space for Nicaraguans to position themselves as influential actors effecting change for themselves or their families. Through prayers, recipients portray themselves as influencing the actions of more powerful parties, including God and potential donors. They also pray for donors' well-being, thereby offering spiritual reciprocity for material gifts. However, the same prayers that empower individuals at the interpersonal level constrain their ability to envision transformation of social structures. These findings shape understandings of prayer as aligning actions, of the moral and social dimensions of receiving care from strangers, and of the complex and contradictory ways religious practices influence discourses of empowerment and development.

The Gift Economy of Direct Transnational Civic Action: How Reciprocity and Inequality Are Managed in Religious “Partnerships”

“…Research by Probasco suggests that “materially valuable gifts” to foreign individuals, in contrast to personalized gift items, are potentially distressing to members of foreign communities. In her research, these gifts consisted of financial funding for “houses or educational sponsorships that would be difficult or impossible to repay in kind” (:7) and were given from international NGOs to specific individuals. From what Probasco relates about the potential problems of these monetary gifts to individuals, including causing personal troubles and generating forced gratitude, it is not surprising that STM travel partnerships tend to prohibit them.…”

“…The gifts that informants in El Salvador reported their communities giving to STM travelers included crafts, clothing, and food items related to local culture, a report confirmed in other STM travel research (Bayt Priest ). Similarly, aid recipients in Nicaragua provided flowers, drawings, and fruit in return (Probasco ). One Salvadoran pastor in our research related that members of his church “provide a little ‘gift of remembrance.’ Or we give them a little diploma [of completion], and they really appreciate it.” Another Salvadoran organizational leader described how this worked: “The majority of people in the community want to give something.…”

“…Inequality of status debt between participants can result in other actions, such as competitive sacrifices and the refusal to reciprocate, which terminates the relationship altogether (Godbout and Caillé ; Silber ). In development language, status imbalance can produce clientelism instead of partnership (Probasco ; Stirrat and Henkel ).…”

“…Finally, how is material asymmetry dealt with by actors in direct transnational gift‐giving relationships? Research on STM travel and other forms of transnational civic action has suggested a variety of ways to navigate inequality, including travelers ignoring it or foreign partners mutually accepting it (Hefferan ; Probasco ; Ver Beek ; Ver Beek ) . Our research focuses on the gift exchange structure as a mechanism for managing inequality.…”

“…GET has been used before in sociological research about religion (Mauss [1950]; Silber ). However, our engagement of GET advances its utility for understanding numerous features of religious transnationalism, such as cultural bridging processes, relational structures, and interpretations of inequality (Bornstein ; Probasco ; Silk ; Stirrat and Henkel ). A particular strength of using GET in this arena is its focus on the group basis of transnational civic action.…”