Much has been written lately about the ethics of globalization and development, based largely on secular interpretations of ethics. Bornstein (anthropology, U. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) looks instead at spiritually-based NGOs to see how effective they are in development projects as well as humanitarian aid. She studies two religious NGOs in Zimbabwe and finds their efforts to be both liberatory and limiting, with a slight emphasis on the latter, proving that in some cases the mission mentality prevails. However, Bornstein also finds that the traditional influence of religious NGOs, combined with the tools and expectations of this more aggressive time, could produce significant advances. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Religious NGOs are important sources of humanitarian aid in Africa, entering where the welfare programs of weakened states fail to provide basic services. As collaborators and critics of African states, religious NGOs occupy an important structural and ideological position. They also, however, illustrate a key irony—how economic development, a symbol of science, progress, and this-worldly material improvement, borrows heavily from other-worldly faith. Through a study of two transnational NGOs in Zimbabwe, this book offers a nuanced depiction of development as both liberatory and limiting. Humanitarian effort is not a hopeless task, but behind the liberatory potential of Christian development lurks the sad irony that change can bring its own disappointments.While rapt attention has been given to the supposed role of NGOs in democratizing Africa, few studies engage with the ground operations. Questioning the assumption that economic development is a move away from religious mysticism toward the scientific promise of progress, the author offers a remarkable account of development that is neither defeatist nor comforting. This book is an examination of the connections between modern economic practices, globalization, and contemporary Christian religious belief, based on an ethnographic study of NGOs in Zimbabwe. It addresses issues crucial for those interested in the strengths and weaknesses of development theory and practice, as well as in Protestant Christianity as a transnational religion.
