The entanglements of Islamic charity

The goals of Islamic charity have shifted in the long twentieth century. These are not merely confined to a communitarian scale and the construction of religious infrastructure for Muslims. Islamic charitable networks have increasingly invested in public works such as state-of-the-art hospitals, multistorey housing complexes and schools for modern education that contribute to the public good and meet the social needs of both Muslims and others. 

Transnational Islamic charity today claims humanity as its constituency, which is no longer the monopoly of Western humanitarianism. 

Furthermore, the field of Islamic charity has not remained impervious to the pervasive effects of global market-oriented ideologies that are a defining characteristic of the neoliberal era. The lines between charity, development, philanthropy, and humanitarianism have become blurred. 

In this Development Research Seminar, Dr Radhika Gupta will offer critical reflections on the entanglements of Islamic charity with ideologies of humanitarianism and neoliberal developmentalism, drawing upon preliminary ethhnographic research in Mumbai (India). 

 About the speaker

Dr Radhika Gupta teaches Cultural Anthropology and Global Sociology at Leiden University. She is the author of Freedom in Captivity: Negotiations of Belonging along Kashmir’s Frontier (Cambridge University Press) and the recipient of an ERC consolidator grant. 

Prior to joining academia, she worked in internatonal development on indigenous peoples, equity and rights across the Hindukush Himalayas at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).