The Spirit of Charity: An Ethnography of Religious Philanthropy

• Grant number: 17/20741-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: August 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Pazzanese Duarte Lanna
• Grantee: Allan Wine Santos Barbosa
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to study the actors, relationships, knowledges, discourses, values and dynamics involved in the performance of philanthropic institutions with religious ties in three cities in the interior of São Paulo. The analysis will be based on ethnographic, bibliographical and historical research, aiming at apprehending different compositions and world views present at each point of the network (donors, employees, volunteers and recipients). In order to do so, the proposal falls within a threefold theoretical boundary, between the anthropology of organizations/institutions, the anthropology of religion and economic anthropology. This set of debates will allow the analysis of ethnographic data to produce an image of bureaucratic functioning while, at the same time, highlighting how the actors involved in this universe understand their performance in the face of a set of religious principles. Such images may concern the search for salvation, attempts to put faith into practice, notions of civic and social duty, among others. The research also seeks to identify tensions and conflicts between bureaucratic/state and religious logics, emphasizing the negotiation and legitimacy dynamics mobilized by such institutions. Finally, the ethnography will also allow for a comparative discussion on charity and circulation processes, with an emphasis on the analytical potential of notions from economic anthropology, such as a gift and reciprocity, in the apprehension of circulation flows linking donors, institutions and recipients, and also very different sets of practices and values, such as institutional bureaucracy, religious soteriology and humanitarian morality.