Religion and international development in the Canadian academic context

Abstract

Abstract Although faith, religion and spirituality are central to the lives of millions in the global south, few scholars in the north explicitly address religion's role in development. This study explores this disjuncture in Canadian academia by analysing references to religion and related terms across 32 volumes of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies and in international development studies (IDS) course descriptions at Canadian universities. Fewer than 1 per cent of the articles and IDS courses explicitly address religion and development. An examination of other key publications in the field suggests that growing interest in religion and development in the past decade has not been reflected in the Canadian academy.

Résumé Bien que la foi, la religion et la spiritualité soient centrales à la vie de millions de personnes du Sud, peu de chercheurs du Nord abordent son rôle dans le développement. L'analyse des références à la religion dans 32 volumes de la Revue canadienne d’études du développement et dans les descriptions de cours universitaires canadiens portant sur le développement international montre que cette disjonction est présente dans la recherche canadienne. En effet, moins d'un pour cent des articles et des cours traitent explicitement la relation entre la religion et le développement. L'intérêt croissant que d'autres publications clés dans le domaine des études du développement ont porté au rapport entre religion et développement durant la dernière décennie ne trouve donc pas son équivalent dans la recherche canadienne.

Keywords:

• religion
• development
• Canadian Journal of Development Studies
• international development studies

Notes

The terms “faith”, “religion” and “spirituality” are used throughout this article in their broadest popular sense. The term “religion” will, unless noted otherwise, be used to include “faith” and “spirituality” as well.

Part of my PhD research was conducted at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. An earlier version of the paper was submitted to the CJDS in 2006 and returned to me in 2008, the editors explaining that they had failed to find reviewers for the piece; thus, ironically, confirming one of the main points of the article itself.

It was not the intention to consider the NGO sector or government agencies such as CIDA in this study. Jones and Petersen suggest that any interest in religion and development comes more from the practitioner than the academic community: “donors and large international NGOs have shown more interest in the subject than university departments” (Jones and Petersen 2011, 1294).

For the purposes of this research, “religion” was considered in its broadest sense, as popularly perceived, including but not necessarily limited to the following concepts and characteristics: belief in God, gods, souls, spirits or the supernatural; worship expressed in spiritual disciplines and ritual acts; sacred texts and moral codes that inform life; a system of beliefs and practices by which its followers seek, individually and in community, to understand and communicate the meaning of life; a system of symbols which function religiously and assist in the formulation of world views and cosmologies; a distinction between the sacred and profane; personal faith and notions of spirituality; or the major faiths and systems of traditional religion, their officials, organisations and institutions. Culture also is a challenging concept, especially with respect to religion's place within it. This researcher sought to be aware that the subject of religion could often be subsumed under the category of culture.

Clearly, Canadian academics may publish elsewhere, but the CJDS is the only development journal that bears the descriptor “Canadian”.

According to the Taylor and Francis website (accessed April 12, 2012), 72 volumes of the CJDS exist. This overlooks a special issue in 1997, guest edited by Arpi Hamalian and Margot Wilson-Moore and entitled “CASID Conferences 1995 and 1996, Selected Articles”. See Hamalian and Wilson-Moore (1997).

Different thematic sections have existed in the CJDS over the years: Responses and Dialogue; Points of View and Comments; Short Articles and Notes; Markings; Reviews of Events; and Reflections on Development Practices. Articles in these sections – titled, though without abstracts – were included in the analysis. Only articles – not Summary Pieces or Book Reviews – were included in the analysis.

It should, however, be pointed out that the parameters of Ver Beek's study postdate the publication of a special issue of the journal World Development in 1980 on “Religious Issues and Development”. See World Development (1980).

These results can be compared with Ver Beek (2000), whose study reflects results from a shorter period of examination. Mentions of the same identifiers – “religion” and “spirituality” – occur five times in World Development, once in Journal of Development Studies, 10 times in Journal of Developing Areas (Ver Beek 2000, 37), and five times in the CJDS.

These latter seven volumes were characterised by a focus on special sections and thematic issues, among them: United Nations; Development from Within; Southeast Asia (twice); Social Capital; National Development in an Era of Neoliberal Globalisation; Gender; Africa; Poverty; the Agrarian Question; Sustainable Livelihoods; Aid Policy; Microfinance; Brazil; Extractive Industries; Entrepreneurship in Asia; Fair Trade; and Social Protection. Articles introducing such collections, entitled “Introduction”, were not counted in the analysis, as they tend to duplicate the data by summarising the subsequent papers. However, CASID Keynote Speeches and Responses, Reflections on Development, “Voices from the Field”, the Kari Polanyi-Levitt Prize Essay and Research Notes were included. Book Reviews were not included (note that there were no obvious correspondences with the subject).

Ironically, the exposure – or lack of it – that the subject of religion receives in the Canadian literature on development seems in no way to correspond to the amount of funds generated by Canada's leading NGO in terms of financial revenue.

The character of an IDS programme can be easily obscured in the various course offerings, and it may only be through personal experience that the substantive thrust of a programme can be determined. The author completed an honours and a master's degree in international development studies at Dalhousie University and scarcely remembers a mention of religion.

This study of Canadian academic offerings was quantitative in nature; these reflections on academic vocabulary are offered as an observation.

GS101, Introduction to Global Studies.

The Canadian Mennonite University's course, IDS-4130, “Mennonite Community and Development”, which originated around 1999 and has been intermittently taught since, might be considered as a second course that directly brings religion and development together.

Such an offering would be Almas Zakiuddin's course on Religion, Culture and Gender at Simon Fraser University, taught in fall 2010. Of course, those Christian universities with a Christian background, such as CMU and Trinity Western, seek to integrate religion throughout their development curriculum.

The World Bank's annual World Development Reports can be found online at http://wdronline.worldbank.org/.

For the reports from 1997 to 2013, see http://www.nsi-ins.ca/ensi/publications/cdr/ (accessed April 12, 2012).

It is recognised that the North–South Institute's CDR is not necessarily representative of Canadian development thinking, but, as with the CJDS, contains the descriptor “Canadian”.

Interestingly, the Mennonite Central Committee, the United Church of Canada and World Vision feature as three of eight “Contributors” ($1,000–$4,999) to the Canadian Development Report 1999, while the Aga Khan Foundation Canada is listed as one of three “Supporters” (C$5,000–$9,999).

Personal interview, February 8, 2005.

Note, for example, the 2004 annual conference of the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs, on the topic “God's back – and with a vengeance” (http://www.couchichinginstitute.ca/) and the Munk Debate in 2010 between Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens on whether religion is a force for good in the world (http://www.munkdebates.com/debates/religion).

I am indebted to one of the anonymous reviewers for this important insight.

The Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness, entitled “Rethinking Development: Local Pathways to Global Wellbeing”, in June 2005 brought together delegates from all over the world to Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Spiritual and religious themes were never far from the surface, as the examples of Bhutan and other alternative development strategies were showcased.