With eighty percent of the world's population professing religious faith, religious belief is a common human characteristic. This fascinating and highly unique Handbook brings together state-of-the-art research on incorporating religion into development studies literature and research. The expert contributors illustrate that as religious identity is integral to a community's culture, exclusion of religious consideration will limit successful development interventions; it is therefore necessary to conflate religion and development to enhance efforts to improve the lives of the poor. Issues addressed include: key tenets, beliefs and histories of religions; religious response to development concerns (gender, environment, education, microfinance, humanitarian assistance); and the role of faith based organisations and missionaries in the wider development context. Practical case studies of countries across Africa, Eastern Europe and the Pacific (including Australia) underpin the research, providing evidence that the intersection between religion and development is neither new nor static. By way of conclusion, suggestions are prescribed for extensive further research in order to advance understanding of this nascent field. This path-breaking Handbook will prove a thought-provoking and stimulating reference tool for academics, researchers and students in international development, international relations, comparative religion and theology.
This substantially revised second edition of The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion remains the only comprehensive survey in English of methods and methodology in the discipline. Designed for non-specialists and upper undergraduate-/graduate-level students, it discusses the range of methods currently available to stimulate interest in unfamiliar methods and enable students and scholars to evaluate methodological issues in research. The Handbook comprises 39 chapters – 21 of which are new, and the rest revised for this edition. A total of 56 contributors from 10 countries cover a broad range of topics divided into three clear parts: • Methodology • Methods • Techniques The first section addresses general methodological issues: including comparison, research design, research ethics, intersectionality, and theorizing/analysis. The second addresses specific methods: including advanced computational methods, autoethnography, computational text analysis, digital ethnography, discourse analysis, experiments, field research, grounded theory, interviewing, reading images, surveys, and videography. The final section addresses specific techniques: including coding, focus groups, photo elicitation, and survey experiments. Each chapter covers practical issues and challenges, theoretical bases, and their use in the study of religion/s, illustrated by case studies. The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion is essential reading for students and researchers in the study of religion/s, as well as for those in related disciplines.
This volume provides a critical overview of research on Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs). While it notes that the definition of NGOs is contested, and can include both business and national groups, it focuses primarily on international NGOs engaged with human rights, social and environmental concerns, and aid and development issues. With contributions by Peter Willetts, Tom Davies, Bob Reinalda and other leading scholars, it provides a series of critical essays on both general aspects of NGOs and significant issues of particular concern.
The process of globalization based on major forms of entertainment consumption has promoted the interest of enlarged social actors toward cultural experiencing. Disseminated by social media, new forms of information and knowledge about exotic tourism destinations have endorsed an increasing interest in forms of cultural tourism. This cultural tourism turnout results from a significant change in the traveler’s demands and behaviors and has led to a new and renovated interest in cultural heritage that must be studied further. The Handbook of Research on Cultural Tourism and Sustainability explores theoretical concepts related to cultural tourism and cultural routes and provides original viewpoints and empirical research with case studies and best practices for the future of cultural tourism. Covering a range of topics such as creative tourism and sustainable tourism, this major reference work is ideal for academicians, practitioners, professionals, policymakers, government officials, instructors, and students.
The contemporary conflict scenarios are beyond the reach of standardized approaches to conflict resolution. Given the curious datum that culture is implicated in nearly every conflict in the world, culture can also be an important aspect of efforts to transform destructive conflicts into more constructive social processes. Yet, what culture is and how culture matters in conflict scenarios is contested and regrettably unexplored. The Handbook of Research on the Impact of Culture in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding is a critical publication that examines cultural differences in conflict resolution based on various aspects of culture such as morals, traditions, and laws. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as criminal justice, politics, and technological development, this book is essential for educators, social scientists, sociologists, political leaders, government officials, academicians, conflict resolution practitioners, world peace organizations, researchers, and students.
The resolution of conflicts based on religious and ethnic contradictions is a time-consuming process. Under certain conditions, a religious conflict became a form of expression of class, estate, interethnic contradictions, and the confrontation of states. However, we know that all religions call for peace, tolerance, and understanding. There is a need to realize that social injustice, inequality, and hostility toward any religious and ethnic groups fluctuates depending on the extent to which religious and ethnic differences are linked to economic, political, or national interests. The Handbook of Research on Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Conflicts and Their Impact on State and Social Security forms a civil position and identity and provides knowledge of the development of conflict preconditions. This research explains conflict avoidance and solutions and creates a solid base for ethnic and religious integration while being aware of conflict consequences and avoiding xenophobia. Covering topics such as economic crisis, radicalization, and spiritual security, this book is an indispensable resource for students of higher education, professors, faculty, libraries, researchers, policymakers, community leaders, human rights activists, religious leaders, and academicians.
This book analyses how religion is entangled in people’s lives in Sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia. It provides an introduction to the teachings, practices and values promoted by the main religious traditions in these regions and an overview of the evidence on what religion means to people in terms of their beliefs and religious practices and how it influences their values, attitudes and day-to-day relationships with others, especially their families. Over the course of the book Carole Rakodi explores similarities and differences between and within religious traditions and identifies some of the key factors that influence and explain the roles played by religion in people’s personal lives and social relationships. A separate companion volume will go on to focus on the social and political roles and relationships of religious groups and organisations. This book will be of great interest to academics and students working in a range of disciplines, especially sociology, religious studies and development studies but also anthropology, geography and area studies.
Making Market Women tells of the initial success and failure of a liberationist Catholic women’s cooperative in central Ecuador. Jill DeTemple argues that when gender and religious identities are capitalized, they are made vulnerable. Using archival and ethnographic methods, she shares the story of the women involved in the cooperative, producing cheese and knitted goods for local markets, and places their stories in the larger context of both the cooperative and the community. DeTemple explores the impact of gender roles, the perception of women, the growing middle class, and the changing mode of Catholicism in their community. Although the initial success of the cooperative may have been due to the group’s cohesion and Catholic identity, the ultimate failure of the enterprise left many women less secure in these ties. They keep their Catholic identity but blame the institutional church in some ways for the failure and are less confident in their ability as women to compete successfully in market economies. Because DeTemple examines not only the effects of gender and religion on development but also the effects of development, successful or unsuccessful, on the identities of those involved, this book will interest scholars of international development, religious studies, Latin American studies, anthropology, and women’s studies.
This book investigates the role of religion in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southern Africa. Building on a diverse range of methodologies and disciplinary approaches, the book reflects on how religion, politics and health have interfaced in Southern African contexts, when faced with the sudden public health emergency caused by the pandemic. Religious actors have played a key role on the frontline throughout the pandemic, sometimes posing roadblocks to public health messaging, but more often deploying their resources to help provide effective and timely responses. Drawing on case studies from African indigenous knowledge systems, Islam, Rastafari and various forms of Christianity, this book provides important reflections on the role of religion in crisis response. This book will be of interest to researchers across the fields of African Studies, Health, Politics and Religious Studies.
"What is development? Who defines that one community/ country is "developed", while another community/ country is "under-developed"? What is the relationship between religion and development? Does religion contribute to development or underdevelopment in Africa? These and related questions elicit quite charged reactions in African studies, development studies, political science and related fields. Africa's own history, including the memory of marginalisation, slavery and exploitation by global powers ensures that virtually every discussion on development is characterised by a lot of emotions and conflicting views. In this volume scholars from various African countries and many different religions and denominations contribute to this debate."--
"This Handbook provides a cutting-edge survey of the state of research on religions and global development. Part one highlights critical debates that have emerged within research on religions and development, particularly with respect to theoretical, conceptual and methodological considerations, from the perspective of development studies and its associated disciplines. Parts two to six look at different regional and national development contexts and the place of religion within these. These parts integrate and examine the critical debates raised in part one within empirical case studies from a range of religions and regions. Different religions are situated within actual locations and case studies thus allowing a detailed and contextual understanding of their relationships to development to emerge. Part seven examines the links between some important areas within development policy and practice where religion is now being considered, including:Faith-Based Organisations and Development Public Health, Religion and DevelopmentHuman rights, Religion and DevelopmentSustainable Development, Climate Change and ReligionGlobal Institutions and Religious Engagement in Development Economic Development and ReligionReligion, Development and Fragile StatesDevelopment and Faith-Based EducationTaking a global approach, the Handbook covers Africa, Latin America, South Asia, East/South-East Asia and the Middle East. It is essential reading for students and researchers in development studies and religious studies, and is highly relevant to those working in a range of disciplines, from theology, anthropology, and economics, to geography, international relations, politics, sociology, area studies and development studies"
Human trafficking is currently regarded as a contemporary form of slavery. However, despite many initiatives undertaken over the last two decades to tackle the problem, there seems to be a disproportionate emphasis on the social phenomenon. Trafficking in persons remains a little-explored area in scholarship with many inconsistencies and ambiguities yet to be attended to. Human trafficking is a multifaceted issue that requires a multidisciplinary approach that must be studied and considered thoroughly and with heavy regard to the many layers of the issue. The Handbook of Research on Present and Future Paradigms in Human Trafficking presents a comprehensible view of what constitutes the underpinning of human trafficking, the means of combating it, its moral implications, and offers possible solutions toward curbing its excesses, inconsistencies, and ambiguities. Covering a range of topics such as social change, human rights, and ethics, this major reference work is ideal for researchers, scholars, practitioners, government officials, policymakers, instructors, academicians, and students.
