Leading while being led

Developing the developer at a Catholic NGO in Cape Town

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2186706
AutoresGrant Fore (0000-0002-5432-0726, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, autor de correspondencia), Grant A Fore
Año2013
Volumen36
Número1-2
Páginas80-90
Fecha de publicación2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAnthropology Southern Africa (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2332-3264 • E-ISSN: 2332-3256
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23323256.2013.11500045
OpenAlexW4245220718
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas17

The paper uses ethnographic data about the religious ethics undergirding the discourse and practices of development agents at Catholic Welfare and Development (CWD), a faith-based NGO in Cape Town, South Africa. It explores how the dynamic interrelation between faith and ethics permeated the development encounter and produced particular modalities for the ethical/moral development of the subjectivities of CWD's developers. Informed by their own experiences of development, developers attempted to ‘develop’ those they considered to be beneficiaries. The paper argues, and provides evidence to demonstrate that, through the shared experience of development as an interpersonal and intersubjective encounter, both developers and beneficiaries were developed, while they also developed each other. It goes on to suggest that this finding challenges the binary representation of development relationships (developer/beneficiary) and that-despite the asymmetry of the reciprocities involved-it is misleading to think in such dichotomous terms, precisely because doing that misrepresents the power and agency wielded by each subject position in every development encounter

Agency (philosophy · Beneficiary · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethnography · Faith · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public relations · Representation (politics · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · African cultural and philosophical studies · Anthropology · Development, Ethics, and Society · Gender Studies · Law · Religion, Society, and Development