Abstract
This paper studies the unique relationship between religion, particularly Islam and development, through the case of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Portugal. It explores how AKDN redefines and practices development, which is far beyond the conventional idea of economic progress, and how these ideas of development are rooted in the ethics of Islam. Using qualitative and ethnographic methods of research, I demonstrate how Islam and its fundamental principles of unity and integrity translate into AKDN’s various civil society, cultural, and heritage programs in Portugal. These development programs aim to foster pluralism and a better quality of life for all, amidst increasing religious polarisations and faith defamation, particularly against Islam. Thus, in this paper, I argue that AKDN on one hand is redefining the traditional notions of ‘development’, and on the other hand, reconstructing the image of Islam and Muslims in Europe. Doing so, this paper contributes simultaneously to both on postcolonial anthropology of development and the anthropology of Islam in the contemporary ‘West’. More importantly, it shows how religion (Islam in this case), often marginalized in the wake of ‘secularism’, is in fact, deeply intertwined with AKDN’s ethos for development work and adapts to the globally and rapidly changing sociocultural conditions.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
RELIGION, DEVELOPMENT, ISLAM, PLURALISM, POSTSECULAR, PORTUGAL
