'The power of a simple gift': The ethics of children's evangelization by Christian NGOs in Côte d'Ivoire

This article examines how some Evangelical nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Côte d'Ivoire have focused their actions towards children and in doing so use strategies based on gifts and play. These organizations' activities encourage a holistic conception of 'development' th...

Description complète

Enregistré dans:  
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs: LeBlanc, Marie Nathalie 1966- (Auteur) ; Koenig, Boris (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
Vérifier la disponibilité: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
En cours de chargement...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Publié: Sage [2019]
Dans: Social compass
Année: 2019, Volume: 66, Numéro: 2, Pages: 256-272
Sujets / Chaînes de mots-clés standardisés:B Elfenbeinküste / Organisation de bienfaisance / Mouvement évangélique / Enfant ou adolescent (11-17 ans) / Mission
RelBib Classification:KBN Afrique subsaharienne
KDG Église libre
RJ Mission
Sujets non-standardisés:B prosélytisme
B Évangélisation
B Evangelization
B ONG confessionnelles
B Enfant
B Côte d'Ivoire
B Children
B Mission
B faith-based NGOs
B Proselytization
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Résumé:This article examines how some Evangelical nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Côte d'Ivoire have focused their actions towards children and in doing so use strategies based on gifts and play. These organizations' activities encourage a holistic conception of 'development' that is based on both spiritual and material dimensions. In fact, these NGOs provide fascinating examples of the interaction between divergent development ideals, which are based on seemingly competing notions of the 'good life'. These organizations promote an ethics of evangelization, which rests on the underlying ideas that 'good Christians will make good citizens', by emphasizing activities geared to the tutoring of children through educational, charitable, sanitary, and playful interventions. In order to illustrate how the leaders of these local Evangelical NGOs carefully manipulate the border between play and evangelization, and how amusement and gift-giving are key to the interconnection of humanitarian and proselytizing activities, we focus the analysis on the activities of a local affiliate of the transnational NGO Samaritan's Purse. This case study also highlights how ethical ideals of evangelization defined by transnational organizations are appropriated by local actors and integrated within local discourses regarding the moralization of Ivorian society. The article is based on ethnographic field research conducted in the city of Abidjan in 2011, 2012, and 2016.
ISSN:1461-7404
Contient:Enthalten in: Social compass
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0037768619833315