Tracing faith-based service landscapes: the contours of messiness at the Open Door Community in Atlanta

Abstract

A burgeoning geographic literature examines the politics of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in neoliberalized social welfare landscapes. This scholarship on FBOs in the “postsecular city” argues for a “messy middle ground” that explores moments of subversion and resistance, but avoids drawing a clear dividing line between those groups that advance neoliberal agendas and those that resist them. In this paper, I use a case study approach to examine the contours of “messiness” at the Open Door Community, an FBO in Atlanta. The subjectivity of FBO participants is argued as integral to the complex set of perspectives that pre-empt any easy classification of FBO politics. Multiple, conflicting subjectivities and power disparities characterize even FBOs with emancipatory agendas.

Keywords:

• faith-based organizations
• social welfare
• neoliberal
• post-secular

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Steven Holloway, Nik Heynen, Hilda Kurtz, Katherine Hankins and Andy Walter for their feedback and support.

Additional information

Funding

The author was funded by a graduate assistantship from her home institution.