Beyond Disciplinarity
Reflections on the Study of Religion in International Development
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by Barbara Bompani in
Current site
Google Scholar
The increasing public role of religion in Sub-Saharan Africa and the consequent studies that are emerging on the topic, force us to rethink how to interpret, approach, categorize and understand religion in the public. The pervasiveness of religion, and the impossibility of simply inscribing it within a single discipline pushes us to reconsider our approaches, methodologies and theories. Focusing on the emergence of “Religion and Development” (RaD) as a sub-discipline within the discipline of Development Studies, the article will show how the creation of “focused transdisciplinarity”, embedded in critical social science, can be an answer to the need of engaging with the multilayered nature of religion without compromising rigor and while still benefiting from methodologies and theories developed within a defined discipline. The article argues that a “focused transdisciplinary approach” allows research to navigate complexity and engage with issues while constantly reminding us of the origins of the investigative process in which the study is conducted.
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2
S. Deneulin and M. Bano, Religion in Development: Rewriting the Secular Spirit (London: Zed Books, 2009).
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6
J.T. Klein, “A Taxonomy of Interdisciplinarity,” in The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity (eds. R. Frodeman, J.T. Klein and C. Mitcham; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 16.
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10
T. Becher, Academic Tribes and Territories: Intellectual Enquiry and the Cultures of Discipline (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1989), 47.
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15
W.W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960).
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19
R. Chambers, Challenging the Professions: Frontiers for Rural Development (London: Intermediate Technology Publications, 1993).
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24
A. Mbembe, On the Postcolony (Studies on the History of Society and Culture 41; Berkeley, Calif.; London: University of California Press, 2001).
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26
B. Bompani, “Religion and Development from Below: Independent Christianity in South Africa,” Journal of Religion in Africa 40, no. 3 (2010): 307–330.
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28
W.R. Tyndale, ed., Visions of Development: Faith-Based Initiatives (Aldershot; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2006); K. Marshall and M. van Saanen, Development and Faith: Where Mind, Heart, and Soul Work Together (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2007).
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30
C.K. Wilber and K.P. Jameson, “Religious Values and Social Limits to Development,” World Development 8, no. 7 & 8 (1980): 6.
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34
For example see G. Clarke, “Faith Matters: Faith-Based Organisations, Civil Society and International Development,” Journal of International Development 18 (2007): 835–848; G. Clarke and M. Jennings, eds., Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations. Bridging the Sacred and the Secular (Basingstoke; New York, N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008); Deneulin and Bano, Religion in Development; J. Haynes, Religion and Development: Conflict or Cooperation? (London; New York, N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007); J. Lunn, “The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in Development: A Critical Theory Approach,” Third World Quarterly 30, no. 5 (2009): 937–951; Tyndale, Visions of Development, 2006.
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S. Deneulin and C. Radoki, “Revisiting Religion: Development Studies Thirty Years On,” World Development 39, no. 1 (2011): 45.
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Research notes, 2012.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 583 | 79 | 4 |
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Beyond Disciplinarity
Reflections on the Study of Religion in International Development
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by Barbara Bompani in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
The increasing public role of religion in Sub-Saharan Africa and the consequent studies that are emerging on the topic, force us to rethink how to interpret, approach, categorize and understand religion in the public. The pervasiveness of religion, and the impossibility of simply inscribing it within a single discipline pushes us to reconsider our approaches, methodologies and theories. Focusing on the emergence of “Religion and Development” (RaD) as a sub-discipline within the discipline of Development Studies, the article will show how the creation of “focused transdisciplinarity”, embedded in critical social science, can be an answer to the need of engaging with the multilayered nature of religion without compromising rigor and while still benefiting from methodologies and theories developed within a defined discipline. The article argues that a “focused transdisciplinary approach” allows research to navigate complexity and engage with issues while constantly reminding us of the origins of the investigative process in which the study is conducted.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 583 | 79 | 4 |
| Full Text Views | 228 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 64 | 0 | 0 |
