you_can_give_even_if_you_only_have_ten_rupees_muslim_charity_in_a_colombo_housing_scheme.pdf (208.43 kB)
'You can give even if you only have ten rupees!': Muslim charity in a Colombo housing scheme
Version 2 2023-06-12, 08:39
Version 1 2023-06-09, 05:21
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:39 authored by Filippo OsellaFilippo Osella, Tom WidgerRecent research on contemporary modalities of Islamic or Muslim philanthropy has focused on processes of subjectivation through which givers and recipients of charity are habituated or craft themselves to an ethic of piety, social responsibility and (neoliberal) economic virtuosity. These studies, however, have concentrated almost exclusively on those who give charity, leading to an over-emphasis on the perspectives of givers, and on their role in determining how the poor might deal with their everyday lives and imagined futures. As a result, small-scale gifting relations in which the Muslim poor may also be involved—making the poor simultaneously givers and recipients of charity—have been obscured or erased altogether. In this article we argue that the concerns of the poor might not always or necessarily be those of the wealthy donors of charity. By receiving and giving sadaqa and zakat, poor and working class Muslim in a Colombo neighbourhood imagine inclusion and belonging to the wider Muslim community in Colombo which is not contingent upon the mediation and pedagogical interventions of charitable organizations and (middle-class) pious donors. Importantly, this imagination of inclusion and belonging comes at a time when the Muslim poor are increasingly marginalized by virtue of a (middle class) discourse which by framing charity as a means ‘to help the poor to help themselves’ has turned socio-economic upliftment into an ethical duty, and, consequently, failure to improve oneself has become the symptom of wider moral shortcomings.
Funding
Charity, Philanthropy and Development in Colombo, Sri Lanka; G0705; ESRC-ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL; ES/I033890/1
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Modern Asian StudiesISSN
0026-749XPublisher
Cambridge University PressExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
52Page range
297-324Department affiliated with
- Anthropology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-03-01First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-03-01First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-03-01Usage metrics
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