Lived Religion and Nonreligion Among Humanitarians in South Sudan
We explore how expatriate humanitarian workers relate their religious, spiritual or nonreligious identities to their life and work in the challenging context of South Sudan. Recent studies have claimed that lived religion and nonreligion must be studied as culturally and contextually contingent phen...
| Main Author: | |
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| Contributors: | ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2021
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| In: |
Nordic journal of religion and society
Year: 2021, Volume: 34, Issue: 1, Pages: 17-28 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Sudan (Süd)
/ Humanitarian aid
/ Foreigner
/ Helper
/ Religious life
/ Religious identity
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion CB Christian life; spirituality KBN Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | We explore how expatriate humanitarian workers relate their religious, spiritual or nonreligious identities to their life and work in the challenging context of South Sudan. Recent studies have claimed that lived religion and nonreligion must be studied as culturally and contextually contingent phenomena. The empirical basis for this study is data from nine interviews with humanitarian workers in South Sudan who identify as either religious/spiritual or nonreligious. We aim to explore (1) how the humanitarians participating in this research describe their religious/spiritual or nonreligious identities and (2) how they relate their non/religious identities to the choice and experience of working as humanitarians. Both religious/spiritual and nonreligious informants associate their choice to work as humanitarians with values such as equality, dignity, justice and respect for life. Humanitarian work marked by parallel processes of sacralisation and secularisation allows for an understanding of similar values from different perspectives and therefore for the connotation of the same values in religious or nonreligious/secular terms. |
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| ISSN: | 1890-7008 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Nordic journal of religion and society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18261/issn.1890-7008-2021-01-02 |