Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Impacts of Religious Organizations on the Livelihood of Rural People in Peru

在世界许多地区，宗教组织为当地居民提供了一套重要的支持和服务。这一博士论文研究项目将研究宗教组织对秘鲁安第斯山脉中部和南部以盖丘亚族为主的社区生计的影响。该项目将评估宗教组织，如教堂、传教士团体和人道主义组织，如何影响秘鲁农村人在秘鲁政府和光辉道路革命运动之间的斗争后获得有益生计的方式。该项目的理论基础表明，社会组织在决定如何实现“发展”方面发挥着重要作用。此外，发展干预措施的结果将因不同形式的社会组织所体现的组成、信仰和经验而有所不同。现有研究探讨了国营发展机构、非政府组织(NGO)和社会运动如何以不同方式影响特定人群的生计。本项目旨在通过审查另一种有影响力的组织形式--宗教及其对生计的影响，为这些讨论做出贡献。为此，该项目集中于三个核心问题：(1)这些社区的宗教组织如何影响获得社会、物质和政治资源？(2)宗教派别如何塑造个人认同自己及其邻居的方式，并产生什么后果？(3)当代宗教组织如何与其他治理结构互动和干预，如地方政府或非正式社区团体？将通过档案研究、访谈和参与者观察在两个盖丘亚族社区收集数据，这两个社区直接受到1980年代和1990年代初安第斯山脉南部和中部发生的暴力事件的影响。这些数据将通过文本和叙事分析进行分析和比较，以构建宗教组织干预生计的地方历史，确定最近的干预形式如何影响当地家庭和个人，并破译当代宗教组织用来塑造个人如何保障生计的不同途径。对这两个社区进行比较，其中一个社区的发展受到宗教组织的高度干预，另一个社区则没有，这将使我们有机会了解宗教支持的干预与世俗干预的不同之处。这项研究将解决在经历过暴力冲突的地区对宗教与生计之间的关系进行分析和理论上严格调查的必要性。非政府组织在发展中的集中地位，加上解放神学在整个1970年代的兴起，为宗教组织间接和直接干预世界穷人的生计创造了新的阶段。这一空间在整个1980年代和1990年代一直延伸，当时在暴力冲突期间，宗教赞助组织及其成员往往是唯一能够代表人道主义需要进行干预的群体。通过更多的干预，发达国家和发展中国家的宗教团体之间的资本流动增加了，因为传教活动纳入了生计关切。考虑到拉丁美洲越来越多的人从天主教徒皈依新教，这个项目尤其及时，一些研究人员认为，这一趋势以显著和多样化的方式改变了社交网络。该项目的结果将为审查宗教在发展和冲突局势中的作用提出不同的模式。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

In many parts of the world, religious organizations provide an important set of support and services for local residents. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the impact of religious organizations on livelihoods in predominantly Quechua communities of the central and southern Andes of Peru. The project will evaluate how religious organizations, such as churches, missionary groups, and humanitarian organizations, influence the ways that rural Peruvians have secured beneficial livelihoods in the wake of the struggle between the Peruvian state and the Shining Path revolutionary movement. The theoretical underpinnings of this project suggest that social organizations play an important role in determining how "development" will occur. Further, the outcomes of development interventions will vary according to the compositions, beliefs, and experiences embodied by different forms of social organization. Existing research has explored how state-run development agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and social movements impact the livelihoods of specific populations in distinct ways. This project seeks to contribute to these discussions by examining another influential form of organization, that of religion, and its impacts on livelihood. To do so, the project focuses on three central questions: (1) How do the religious organizations in these communities impact access to social, material and political resources? (2) How does religious affiliation shape the ways that individuals identify themselves and their neighbors, and with what consequences? (3) How do contemporary religious organizations interact with and intervene in other governing structures, such as local government or informal community groups? Data will be collected through archival research, interviews, and participant observation in two Quechua communities that were directly affected by the violence that occurred throughout the southern and central Andes through the 1980s and early 1990s. These data will be analyzed and compared through textual and narrative analysis to construct a local history of livelihood intervention by religious organizations, to determine how the most recent forms of intervention have affected local households and individuals, and to decipher the different avenues contemporary religious organizations have used to shape how individuals secure a livelihood. Comparison of the two communities, one which has seen high levels of development intervention by religious organizations and one which has not, will provide an opportunity to understand how religious-sponsored intervention differs from secular intervention.This research will address the need to conduct analytically and theoretically rigorous inquiry into the relationships between religion and livelihoods in regions that have experienced violent conflict. The centralized position of NGOs in development, combined with the rise of liberation theology throughout the 1970s, created space for a new phase of indirect and direct intervention by religious organizations in the livelihood of the world's poor. This space was extended throughout the1980s and 1990s when religious-sponsored organizations and their members often were the only groups able to intervene on behalf of humanitarian needs during violent conflict. Through increased intervention, the flow of capital between religious groups in developed and developing nations has increased as missionary activities incorporate livelihood concerns. The project is especially timely given the increasing conversion of Latin Americans from Catholic to Protestant faiths, a trend that some researchers argue alters social networks in significant and varied ways. The outcomes of this project will suggest different models for examining the role of religion in development and situations of conflict. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.