Serving seafarers in the Boston Harbor: Local adaptation to global economic change, 1820–2015

Cadge, Wendy; Skaggs, Michael

doi:10.1177/0843871418765710

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The Protestants were almost exclusively mainline, five Episcopalians, three Lutherans, two Presbyterians, two Baptists, and one who identified simply as Evangelical. This religious distribution is not surprising given the mainline Protestant history of involvement in port chaplaincy and maritime ministry (Cadge and Skaggs 2018).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In addition to Father Taylor's preaching, the Port Society offered a reading room, taught classes in practical navigation, and hosted a union that fielded mariners' grievances against masters and vessel owners (Leehey 1995). In so doing the Port Society was typically comprehensive in its approach to seafarers' welfare of the day, providing both material relief and moral improvement and combining pastoral and prophetic aspects of ministry (Cadge and Skaggs 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Humanizing Agents of Modern Capitalism? The Daily Work of Port Chaplains

Cadge

Skaggs²

2018

Sociology of Religion

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While chaplains are required in the military, federal prisons, and the Veteran's Administration, they are also present in a range of other settings across the United States. In ports, religiously motivated individuals and institutions have long histories of evangelizing and providing social services. We focus on chaplains in 15 of the largest American ports today to ask how they negotiate access to seafarers and how they work with them daily. Chaplains negotiate security protocols, the hierarchy of ships, and their own self-presentations to get on board vessels. In their daily work, they shift among economic, moral, religious, and advocacy roles. Chaplains access seafarers by providing economic support and then use that access to develop the relationships they see as central to their work. By being present in these relationships, connecting seafarers to broader communities, and serving as an invisible global safety net, port chaplains see themselves acting as humanizing agents of modern capitalism. The case of port chaplaincy suggests additional strategies chaplains use to gain access not yet present in the sociological literature, further illustrates how the work of chaplains is shaped by the institutions within which it takes place, and expands sociological approaches to religion "on the edge" by showing multiple ways religion appears at the water's edge not yet theorized in that literature.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanizing Agents of Modern Capitalism? The Daily Work of Port Chaplains

Cadge

Skaggs²

2018

Sociology of Religion

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“…Port chaplains generally perceive the expression of their Christian ministry as being primarily rooted in the provision of welfare services (Cadge and Skaggs 2018). As people of faith, they do their work with seafarers in accordance to their religious credo of helping strangers.…”

Section: Differences In Theologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Relying on the Kindness of Strangers: Welfare-Providers to Seafarers and the Symbolic Construction of Community

Turgo

Cadge

Gilliat‐Ray

et al. 2022

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

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Seafarers who call into ports usually hope for, or anticipate, a visit from people who provide them with welfare services—from SIM cards and mobile top-up vouchers to religious or nonreligious reading materials, and free transport to the nearest seafarers’ center or shopping mall. In seafarers’ centers, seafarers can normally use free internet facilities, enjoy drinks from the bar, avail themselves of remittance services, and if they wish, practice their faith in rooms/chapels dedicated to religious observance. While port chaplains are usually the people that seafarers associate with welfare services, port chaplains are not alone in providing these services—there are also paid staff and volunteers working in seafarers’ centers. This worldwide community of welfare providers displays the patina of a homogeneous bloc, sharing the same functions, activities, and end-goals in their everyday pursuits in ports and seafarers’ centers. However, this belies a more complex and sometimes fractured community of welfare providers in ports. While their services could be described with one coherent narrative of kindness to strangers, members of this community come from different backgrounds and are employed by different welfare organizations, and in the case of port chaplains, by different religious maritime charities with varying theologies. As a result of this, and the challenges to and changing contexts of maritime welfare services, in ports worldwide, this community is riven with contestation and everyday politics, which may be associated with a symbolically constructed community. This article expands on these issues. It is underpinned by research into welfare provision in two UK ports and in five other countries. It highlights narratives of unity and conflict, opening the doors to a community of people rarely noticed by social scientists.

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