Individual and Social Adaptations to Human Vulnerability, 2018
In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government a... more In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government and a now-prominent evangelical aid organization, World Vision, during the 1950s and 1960s in Korea and Vietnam. World Vision was founded as the “development discourse,” Cold War rhetoric, and the neo-evangelical movement were all rising to prominence in the United States. World Vision’s early understandings of vulnerability resonated with Cold War and modernization theory rhetoric in certain ways; however, its approaches to remake vulnerable Asians were often distinct. World Vision evangelical Christians looked to private voluntary organizations and individual conversions in a free society to remake individuals and nations, notions not so different from neoliberal development approaches today. US foreign aid approaches were rooted in nation-building for centralized, planned government institutions and economies to modernize “traditional” people. This article examines the complex relation...
This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentati... more This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentation and ethical self-formation. I use the case of World Vision and its early leaders to unpack genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism. Rather than seeking to identify American evangelicalism’s normative ethical stance, I aim to expand the discussion in anthropology of ethics on ethical self-formation through examining the tensions, reflections, and processes of becoming among evangelical humanitarians. In doing so, I examine two focal areas of ethical self-formation among early World Vision leaders. The first is oscillation between and mixing of passion and compassion frameworks in the American evangelical imagination. Second, I identify a range of temporal frames that evangelicals draw on to make sense of and formulate ethical responses to human needs encountered abroad.
This article examines the production of knowledge by international development agencies (IDAs) ab... more This article examines the production of knowledge by international development agencies (IDAs) about Sahelian West African women by surveying the scholarly literature and providing three ethnographic examples of how people in this region engage with international development ideas and projects focused on women’s rights and empowerment. Scholars in critical development studies have pointed out problematic framings by IDAs of cultures in Africa and Muslim majority societies as deficient, dangerous, and backward vis-à-vis the West. More recently some IDAs have also sought religious leaders and organizations to partner with to be more culturally sensitive, but this often happens without a deeper consideration of whether their objectives align. In approaches that see religion and culture simplistically as either barriers or assets, the diverse and complex lived experience of women and men in the region is glossed over, relying instead on essentialized notions of Islam and African culture. Nevertheless, men and women in Sahelian West Africa play a critical role in refashioning or rejecting international development initiatives that do not resonate with their lived experience and goals, although knowledge of these negotiations do not tend to be shared in ways that radically challenge knowledge production at higher levels of IDAs.
This article examines the relationship of ideological and material factors in the rise of wife se... more This article examines the relationship of ideological and material factors in the rise of wife seclusion in two rural towns south of Maradi, Niger. Much of the literature on wife seclusion in Hausaland associates wife seclusion with urban or wealthier households, but it is also practiced in rural households of varying economic status and with differing labor needs. Data examining economic and religious changes as well as the perspectives of residents in two rural towns show that seclusion can be a strategy for achieving prosperity for some and a marker of class or religious status by others. (Niger, seclusion, gender, household economies, social change, Islam).
... However, in parts of Niger (influenced by Northern Nigeria) during the latter part of the col... more ... However, in parts of Niger (influenced by Northern Nigeria) during the latter part of the colonial period, Hausa women in polygynous marriages with ... emerged as a result of the dialectic and negotiations between the French and local elites (Groff 1991; Roberts and Mann 1991). ...
This think piece considers how international educators—especially those positioned in the middle ... more This think piece considers how international educators—especially those positioned in the middle of their institutions and professional communities--might adapt design thinking to navigate changing environments.
An inclusive international research experience for graduate students is being developed based on ... more An inclusive international research experience for graduate students is being developed based on equitable, interdisciplinary opportunities in field research and training and proactive efforts in recruiting a diverse cohort. Michigan Technological University, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc., and Lutheran World Relief are collaborating to support local development interventions for agricultural and water-access challenges in the "Dry Corridor" of El Salvador. The three-year effort is supported by the National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students program. This project, titled "Agricultural Community Adaptations to Extreme Hydrometeorological Events," recruited students for the summer 2020 experience before the COVID-19 interruption. Lessons from this past year pertaining to student recruitment, application selection, and preparatory training will enhance the processes for the coming year. ...
This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentati... more This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentation and ethical self-formation. I use the case of World Vision and its early leaders to unpack genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism. Rather than seeking to identify American evangelicalism’s normative ethical stance, I aim to expand the discussion in anthropology of ethics on ethical self-formation through examining the tensions, reflections, and processes of becoming among evangelical humanitarians. In doing so, I examine two focal areas of ethical self-formation among early World Vision leaders. The first is oscillation between and mixing of passion and compassion frameworks in the American evangelical imagination. Second, I identify a range of temporal frames that evangelicals draw on to make sense of and formulate ethical responses to human needs encountered abroad.
In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government a... more In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government and a now-prominent evangelical aid organization, World Vision, during the 1950s and 1960s in Korea and Vietnam. World Vision was founded as the “development discourse,” Cold War rhetoric, and the neo-evangelical movement were all rising to prominence in the United States. World Vision’s early understandings of vulnerability resonated with Cold War and modernization theory rhetoric in certain ways; however, its approaches to remake vulnerable Asians were often distinct. World Vision evangelical Christians looked to private voluntary organizations and individual conversions in a free society to remake individuals and nations, notions not so different from neoliberal development approaches today. US foreign aid approaches were rooted in nation-building for centralized, planned government institutions and economies to modernize “traditional” people. This article examines the complex relationships between missionaries, evangelists, US foreign aid experts and the military in American constructions of vulnerable traditional Asians and interventions to modernize and Christianize them. In examining roots of faith-based development models through the case of World Vision and notions of vulnerability, historical threads and lineages emerge for understanding the relationship of religion and the state in modernizing projects, and faith-based and neoliberal development models.
Individual and Social Adaptations to Human Vulnerability, 2018
In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government a... more In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government and a now-prominent evangelical aid organization, World Vision, during the 1950s and 1960s in Korea and Vietnam. World Vision was founded as the “development discourse,” Cold War rhetoric, and the neo-evangelical movement were all rising to prominence in the United States. World Vision’s early understandings of vulnerability resonated with Cold War and modernization theory rhetoric in certain ways; however, its approaches to remake vulnerable Asians were often distinct. World Vision evangelical Christians looked to private voluntary organizations and individual conversions in a free society to remake individuals and nations, notions not so different from neoliberal development approaches today. US foreign aid approaches were rooted in nation-building for centralized, planned government institutions and economies to modernize “traditional” people. This article examines the complex relation...
This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentati... more This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentation and ethical self-formation. I use the case of World Vision and its early leaders to unpack genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism. Rather than seeking to identify American evangelicalism’s normative ethical stance, I aim to expand the discussion in anthropology of ethics on ethical self-formation through examining the tensions, reflections, and processes of becoming among evangelical humanitarians. In doing so, I examine two focal areas of ethical self-formation among early World Vision leaders. The first is oscillation between and mixing of passion and compassion frameworks in the American evangelical imagination. Second, I identify a range of temporal frames that evangelicals draw on to make sense of and formulate ethical responses to human needs encountered abroad.
This article examines the production of knowledge by international development agencies (IDAs) ab... more This article examines the production of knowledge by international development agencies (IDAs) about Sahelian West African women by surveying the scholarly literature and providing three ethnographic examples of how people in this region engage with international development ideas and projects focused on women’s rights and empowerment. Scholars in critical development studies have pointed out problematic framings by IDAs of cultures in Africa and Muslim majority societies as deficient, dangerous, and backward vis-à-vis the West. More recently some IDAs have also sought religious leaders and organizations to partner with to be more culturally sensitive, but this often happens without a deeper consideration of whether their objectives align. In approaches that see religion and culture simplistically as either barriers or assets, the diverse and complex lived experience of women and men in the region is glossed over, relying instead on essentialized notions of Islam and African culture. Nevertheless, men and women in Sahelian West Africa play a critical role in refashioning or rejecting international development initiatives that do not resonate with their lived experience and goals, although knowledge of these negotiations do not tend to be shared in ways that radically challenge knowledge production at higher levels of IDAs.
This article examines the relationship of ideological and material factors in the rise of wife se... more This article examines the relationship of ideological and material factors in the rise of wife seclusion in two rural towns south of Maradi, Niger. Much of the literature on wife seclusion in Hausaland associates wife seclusion with urban or wealthier households, but it is also practiced in rural households of varying economic status and with differing labor needs. Data examining economic and religious changes as well as the perspectives of residents in two rural towns show that seclusion can be a strategy for achieving prosperity for some and a marker of class or religious status by others. (Niger, seclusion, gender, household economies, social change, Islam).
... However, in parts of Niger (influenced by Northern Nigeria) during the latter part of the col... more ... However, in parts of Niger (influenced by Northern Nigeria) during the latter part of the colonial period, Hausa women in polygynous marriages with ... emerged as a result of the dialectic and negotiations between the French and local elites (Groff 1991; Roberts and Mann 1991). ...
This think piece considers how international educators—especially those positioned in the middle ... more This think piece considers how international educators—especially those positioned in the middle of their institutions and professional communities--might adapt design thinking to navigate changing environments.
An inclusive international research experience for graduate students is being developed based on ... more An inclusive international research experience for graduate students is being developed based on equitable, interdisciplinary opportunities in field research and training and proactive efforts in recruiting a diverse cohort. Michigan Technological University, the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc., and Lutheran World Relief are collaborating to support local development interventions for agricultural and water-access challenges in the "Dry Corridor" of El Salvador. The three-year effort is supported by the National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students program. This project, titled "Agricultural Community Adaptations to Extreme Hydrometeorological Events," recruited students for the summer 2020 experience before the COVID-19 interruption. Lessons from this past year pertaining to student recruitment, application selection, and preparatory training will enhance the processes for the coming year. ...
This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentati... more This article examines narratives, images, and stories that give insight to everyday experimentation and ethical self-formation. I use the case of World Vision and its early leaders to unpack genealogies of American evangelical humanitarianism. Rather than seeking to identify American evangelicalism’s normative ethical stance, I aim to expand the discussion in anthropology of ethics on ethical self-formation through examining the tensions, reflections, and processes of becoming among evangelical humanitarians. In doing so, I examine two focal areas of ethical self-formation among early World Vision leaders. The first is oscillation between and mixing of passion and compassion frameworks in the American evangelical imagination. Second, I identify a range of temporal frames that evangelicals draw on to make sense of and formulate ethical responses to human needs encountered abroad.
In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government a... more In this article, I analyze constructions of and responses to vulnerability in the US government and a now-prominent evangelical aid organization, World Vision, during the 1950s and 1960s in Korea and Vietnam. World Vision was founded as the “development discourse,” Cold War rhetoric, and the neo-evangelical movement were all rising to prominence in the United States. World Vision’s early understandings of vulnerability resonated with Cold War and modernization theory rhetoric in certain ways; however, its approaches to remake vulnerable Asians were often distinct. World Vision evangelical Christians looked to private voluntary organizations and individual conversions in a free society to remake individuals and nations, notions not so different from neoliberal development approaches today. US foreign aid approaches were rooted in nation-building for centralized, planned government institutions and economies to modernize “traditional” people. This article examines the complex relationships between missionaries, evangelists, US foreign aid experts and the military in American constructions of vulnerable traditional Asians and interventions to modernize and Christianize them. In examining roots of faith-based development models through the case of World Vision and notions of vulnerability, historical threads and lineages emerge for understanding the relationship of religion and the state in modernizing projects, and faith-based and neoliberal development models.
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