Browsing by Author "Rivera-Puddle, Catherine"

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    The arc of the moral universe bends towards justice : evangelical Christians engaging with social justice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Rivera-Puddle, Catherine
    This research explores how young evangelical Christians frame the concept of social justice, in particular relating to human trafficking. In the last fifteen years there has been a considerable increase in the number of Evangelicals who are becoming interested in, and participating with, initiatives that have an emphasis on social justice issues. This is a change from evangelical missionary activity which focuses mainly on proselytising and ‘soul winning’. My ethnographic research was conducted amongst of a group of young evangelicals who were students at a ‘justice based’ Christian training school in New Zealand. Fieldwork consisted of participant observation of the course lectures and interviewing fourteen students from eight different countries. I found the main motivator for the students’ interest in social justice were personal experiences they had with God where he ‘broke their heart’ over issues such as human trafficking. How they then engaged with social justice was mediated by digital technology, especially social media. They were also influenced by changing theology as to the character and nature of God, and what it means to be a Christian in a globalized world. Using Bruno Latour’s ‘modes of existence’ theory and Michael Jackson’s Existential phenomenological lens, I argue that social science needs to allow spiritual beings to be ‘real’ in order to understand the worldview of people like my participants, who order their lives through divine encounters and relationships with God. My findings showed that the literature on evangelicals and human trafficking is insufficient because the experiential nature of evangelical Christianity is not taken into account. Experience, rather than belief, is the primary motivation for interest in social justice for young evangelicals.
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    "Social justice is a spiritual practice" : exploring civil society participation among young Anglican social justice activists in Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Rivera-Puddle, Catherine
    This research explores how, and what, young Anglican social justice activists are contributing to civil society in Aotearoa New Zealand in the early 21st century. I wanted to know how the Anglican Christian worldview of my research participants was forming them into a particular type of subject, and if/how this was impacting the engagement of the Anglican Church in New Zealand’s civic and public spaces. The research findings draw from in-depth ethnographic fieldwork based in sensory methodologies that engaged with members of an Anglican Diocese in New Zealand, which I call Diocese J. A theoretical lens of Assemblages and Phenomenological Becoming is used to examine how these social justice activists were formed. The results from the fieldwork indicated that the young social justice activists in Diocese J were shaped by main three factors: living in Intentional Communities, engaging with rhythmic and sensorial spiritual practices, and existing Anglican ecumenical and interfaith activity in civil society. My research also signaled that interactions with civil society amongst my participants were changing from how Anglicans in Diocese J had inhabited this space in the past. For my participants, a concern to provide social services and charity was declining and interest in social justice was growing. Aspects contributing to these changing civil society interactions were neoliberal economic precarity, the looming uncertain future in a climate-shocked world, a decline in the societal influence of mainline Christian denominations in New Zealand, the incorporation of a new religious movement (neo-monastic evangelicals) into Diocese J, and transnational institutional Anglican initiatives for change in response to de-growth in Western Anglicanism. I argue that the types of civic participation and social justice activities these young Anglicans chose to get involved with were influenced by their embodied experiences of rhythms of daily and spiritual life, and understandings of time, space, and theologies of human flourishing and pluralism.