The Spirit of Development
Subtitle: Protestant NGOs, Morality, and Economics in Zimbabwe
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: August 8, 2005
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 228
ISBN-13: 9780804753364
Subjects: Christian social thought & activity; Development economics; Development studies; Non-governmental organizations (NGOs); Philanthropy & Charity; Development - Economic Development; Social Science; Zimbabwe; Sociology; Developing Countries; Social Science / Third World Development; Christianity; Anthropology - Cultural; Non-governmental organizations
Description: "Religious NGOs are important sources of humanitarian aid in Africa, entering where the welfare programs of weakened states fail to provide basic services. As collaborators and critics of African states, religious NGOs occupy an important structural and ideological position. They also, however, illustrate a key irony - how economic development, a symbol of science, progress, and this-worldly material improvement, borrows heavily from other-worldly faith. Through a study of two transnational NGOs in Zimbabwe, this book offers a nuanced depiction of development as both liberatory and limiting. While rapt attention has been given to the supposed role of NGOs in democratizing Africa, few studies engage with the ground operations. Questioning the assumption that economic development is a move away from religious mysticism toward the scientific promise of progress, the author offers a remarkable account of development that is neither defeatist, nor comforting"--BOOK JACKET.