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# Western modernity as culture, ii #

## Western modernity as culture, ii ##

Ryan Schram 

Mills 169, A26 

ryan (dot) schram (at) sydney.edu.au

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/1002/8.2


### Reading ###

Haynes, Naomi. 2015. “‘Zambia Shall Be Saved!’: Prosperity Gospel Politics in a Self-Proclaimed Christian Nation.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 19 (1): 5–24. doi:10.1525/nr.2015.19.1.5.


## The idea of "modernity" is cultural

* There is no such thing as modernity, but the idea of modernity is powerful. 
* Many cultures represent their own history as a linear movement.
* Western cultures' concept of modernity is the liberation of the
  individual from constraints inherited from the past.
* When Christianity is adopted by other societies, this idea of
  liberation can be one of its most powerful influences.



## Christianity as site of conjuncture

### Christianity is based on individualism

* Personal, sincere confession
* Equality of all believers qua moral subjects
* Individual responsibility for one's relationship to God 

### Prosperity theology is individualism without asceticism

* Prayers to God must be answered. 
* Health, success and wealth are what God wants for believers. 

## Decolonization and development

### Modernization 

* Decolonization of former colonial empires was supposed to create
  new, "modern" nations.
* After WWII, European powers and the United Nations would intervene
  in postcolonial states and help them develop industrial economies. 
* People hoped that postcolonial societies would leave behind
  traditional identities and structures in favor of individual rights
  and a Western form of government.

### Globalization 

* Postcolonial societies have always needed to integrate themselves
  into global capitalism. 
* Even though they are independent, they still have to fit into a
  specific economic niche.


## The Zambian Copperbelt

* 1924: Copper mines begin operation in Northern Rhodesia
* 1964: Northern Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zambia 
* 1969: 30% of the population lives in an urban area; 19% of people
  earn wages as their main income.
* 1970-1986: Copper prices flatten out; the value of Zambian exports
  falls to one third of its 1970 value.

Zambia went from a success story to a very poor country. It is not underdeveloped; it was developed and then went into decline because of its position in a post-Fordist, global capitalist system (see Ferguson 1999). 



## The social context of prosperity theology

* Pentecostal churches are start-up enterprises of Christianity
* Pastors of prosperity churches often hold themselves up as examples
  of success, and thus as moral models. 
* The pastor's "charisma" (compelling message, not likeability or
  popularity) creates a congregation of fellow believers, i.e. a new
  social identity.
* Haynes: Prosperity is "socially productive"--The blessed can bless
  others (Haynes 2013, 87).


## References

Ferguson, James. 1999. Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Haynes, Naomi. 2013. “On the Potential and Problems of Pentecostal Exchange.” American Anthropologist 115 (1): 85–95. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2012.01537.x.

## A guide to the unit ##

{{page>1002guide}}