| dc.description.abstract | This thesis investigates how relations between religion and development are constructed and negotiated in diaconal praxis in Bolivia. It is a case study of two Bolivian actors of international diakonia: one church (Iglesia Evangélica Luterana de Bolivia, IELB) and one evangelical non-governmental organization (Misión Alianza de Noruega en Bolivia, MAN-B). The empirical material consists of interviews, observations and institutional documents. The data is analyzed using an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of diakonia, which combines theories from theology and international development studies. Transformation, empowerment and reconciliation are used as criteria for a critical discussion of diaconal praxis.
I argue that constructions of relations between religion and development in diaconal praxis are fruitfully understood as negotiations on various levels. Within an institutional frame, individual staff members negotiate between theological modes of interpretation and theories of human development. Their personal identity – as development professionals, as believers and as individuals with specific cultural backgrounds – plays a major role in these negotiation processes. The context of international diaconal work is marked by different religious traditions at local, regional and international levels, which are also negotiated. All of these processes are framed within institutional structures, but the individual agency of the staff members plays the major role in these constructions of relationships between religion and development.
The analysis of these negotiation processes reveals unresolved tensions in diaconal praxis, which are not necessarily – or primarily – negative. A discussion of the faith identity of the case institutions shows that the integral relation between religious identity and understandings of development makes it difficult to distinguish between “religious” and “development” objectives and means. The international development society’s request to separate between “development work” and “evangelization” hence becomes problematic in practice. For diaconal actors, on the other hand, this integral relation has the potential to strengthen the work, as they draw on resources from both theology as well as development theory. This might lead to processes of transformation, empowerment and reconciliation, but it depends on critical and interdisciplinary reflection and strategic choices at a personal as well as institutional level.
This study has a particular focus on power and discusses which discourses and actors influence the work of the case institutions. International partners (donors) play a key role in defining the discourse and practice of IELB and MAN-B, while the local community is a
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defining influence on the operational practices through their close relations with the staff members. I ask whose definitions count and apply this critical perspective in a discussion of transformation, empowerment and reconciliation as criteria of diaconal praxis.
The discussion reveals that the diaconal praxis of IELB and MAN-B leads to transformation, empowerment and reconciliation in the Andean communities, in the local churches, and for women in various fields that are central to a better quality of life. At the same time it raises important critical questions from the perspective of justice and prophetic diakonia. One of the main challenges is the inability, so far, of the praxis to address power relations in a profound way that challenges and changes established structures of inequality. | nb_NO |
