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From: Philip Michael Fountain
Dear all,
Please see below for information on two upcoming conferences on
religion and development, one in Oxford (August 16) and the other in
Singapore (August 28-29). These will be of interest for anyone working
on the critical study of contemporary international aid and development
and each has a strong Asia focus.
Regards,
Philip
Philip Michael Fountain
National University of Singapore
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The Service of Faith: Christian Entanglements with International
Development
10:30-17:30 Friday 16 August 2013
Ertegun House, 37A St. Giles', Oxford, OX1 3LD
http://www.ertegun.ox.ac.uk/news-events/service-faith-christian-entanglements-international-development
Symposium conveners:
Tobias Tan, Ertegun House and Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford
Philip Fountain, Asia Research Institute, National University of
Singapore
The past decade has witnessed a surge of scholarly interest into the
relationships between religion and development with significant
attention being given to Christian actors. Recent studies have examined
the vast array of 'development-type' activities carried out by Christian
organisations in health, education, poverty alleviation, refugee
services, disaster relief etc. Transnational Christian service is a
powerful dynamic shaping social imaginaries and development outcomes.
Anthropology has been at the forefront of this emerging scholarship,
helpfully illuminating the deep histories of Christian involvement in
development and furnishing textured analyses of diverse Christian
missionary and non-governmental actors. Also of direct relevance is the
widely-heralded 'return of theology' in which theological concerns are
again being located at the centre of academic enquiry. Various
approaches to analysing the theological, including particularly
'political' and 'practical' concerns, are making incisive interventions
into development debates.
This symposium builds upon emerging anthropological and theological
research on the entanglements between Christianity and development. It
seeks to further expand the horizons of scholarly debate by attending to
both theologies and practices. We aim to open new lines of enquiry by
asking: How have interactions between Christianity and development
reshaped each other? What are the genealogical and historical
connections between various Christian traditions and the values,
formations and practices of mainstream international development? What
tensions have arisen between Christian and development (and within
Christian development) actors and what do these reveal about the nature
of development today? What directions should anthropological and
theological analysis take in future research on development?
Short provocations by leading scholars from anthropology and theology
will help facilitate a broad-ranging interdisciplinary conversation
which will open new spaces for rethinking analytical frameworks and move
the debate about Christianity and development into new questions and
arenas.
This event is co-sponsored by the Ertegun Graduate Scholarship
Programme in the Humanities, University of Oxford, and the Asia Research
Institute, National University of Singapore. Admission is free of charge
but registration is essential. RSVP to
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> by
Monday 12 August 2013. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
For information about the schedule and list of speakers see the
conference website:
http://www.ertegun.ox.ac.uk/news-events/service-faith-christian-entanglements-international-development
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Religion and the Politics of Development: Priests, Potentates and
"Progress"
28-29 August 2013
National University of Singapore
http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?eventid=1369&categoryid=6
Conference conveners:
Robin Bush, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Philip Fountain, Asia Research Institute, National University of
Singapore
Development practitioners and academics alike are often kept awake at
night with the vexing question of why development does not seem to be
'working'. Why are there still 2.6 billion poor on the planet? Why do
children die from malnutrition every day in some of the world's richest
countries? All of this despite $125 billion annually of public
development dollars being poured into making things "better". Many
explanations are offered for this, however one argument that has
recently gained traction within development circles is the notion that
development is inherently political, and hence political approaches are
necessary to render it effective (Unsworth 2009). Allocating resources
towards poverty alleviation rather than other priorities requires
political will, not just technical training or instruments; development
must face up to the primacy of politics (Leftwich 2005). Acknowledging
this, major donors and development agencies have begun developing
research projects and program strategies on 'working politically'.
Glaringly absent in this discourse is analysis of the role of religious
leaders, communities and discourses in impacting the political realities
of development. This absence is despite the fact that the notion that
religion and religious organizations have roles to play in development
is no longer considered radical in development circles. Over the past
decade several major research efforts have examined the role of religion
in development initiatives, resulting in nuanced analysis of the
multiple ways that religion engages with development, and vice-versa
(Rakodi 2011; Marshall 2008). Yet in these initiatives there has been
little explicit or thoroughgoing attention to the politics of religion
in development, including the leverage that religious actors exert on
political processes, the ways that development actors engage with
religion, and the different religious visions of progress that inform
practices of poverty alleviation.
Priests, Potentates, and "Progress" will explore the nexus of religion,
development, and politics in Asia. Any discussion of politics must pay
close attention to the state and discussion at the conference will be
informed by recent developments in religion-and-the-state theory.
However, politics extends beyond the state and includes activity at
communal-levels as well as global flows of ideas, finances, and
institutions. We are interested in exploring religion and the politics
of development at multiple levels (e.g. -municipal, provincial,
national, transnational).
The workshop will address the following topics (and related themes) as
they relate to the Asian region:
* Analysis of religion-state interactions for development,
including attention to the changing roles and nature of religious
authority, regimes, and secularization in Asia
* Where and how donors and/or donor governments target
religious groups for assistance for specific development goals or as
part of broader foreign policy objectives;
* The potentialities and constraints for religious groups to
play significant roles in the Paris/Accra Aid Effectiveness discourse,
the MDGs, and other mainstream development initiatives;
* Exploration of ways that religious leaders/groups are
mobilized by development actors (including state actors) and vice versa
for "development" (e.g. service delivery, anti-corruption, advocacy);
* How and under what circumstances and to what ends are
religious leaders and organizations engaged in "political" approaches to
poverty alleviation;
* Analysis of the multiple and contrasting strategies of
grassroots and quotidian religious political activism for development;
* Religious and secular genealogies of development paradigms,
strategies, and goals among particular actors and as an ideological
infrastructure.
For information about the schedule and list of speakers see the
conference website:
http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?eventid=1369&categoryid=6
The Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore,
gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution of the Initiative on
Religion and International Affairs of the Henry Luce Foundation in
co-sponsoring this conference.
Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you RSVP to Jonathan
Lee at Tel: 6516 4224 or Email: [log in to unmask]
Philip Fountain (Dr) :: Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute,
National University of Singapore :: NUS Bukit Timah Campus, 469A Tower
Block, #8-25, Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770 :: +65 65166124 (DID)
:: +65 81959917 (Mob) :: [log in to unmask] (E) :: www.ari.nus.edu.sg
(W).
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