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Privatizing Charity: Islamic Approaches to Development in Cairo
Abstract
In the shadow of a decimated welfare state, millions of Egyptians have turned away from the state and towards NGOs, particularly Islamic charitable associations, as primary providers of social services. With growing numbers of the poor seeking social assistance, organizational leaders have come to see the poor as seekers of infinite and unconditional aid. Compounded by pressure from the state to become development organizations, the spaces of the associations have become crucial sites for the entrenchment of neoliberalism in Cairo. This paper discusses the evolution of Cairo's charitable associations. In particular, I explore how the increased participation of the private sector has transformed associations and led to the formation of numerous philanthropic foundations. Based on over one year of ethnographic research in Cairo, including interviews with over 25 organizational leaders, I present data on how organizations have changed their relationship to donors and recipients as well as on-the-ground projects aimed at poverty alleviation. I argue that transforming charitable practices into development is part of an attempt to depict Islamic practices of giving as modern. At the same time, as a result of the globalization of corporate social responsibility, the private sector has emerged as a critical player in the development project, with concrete effects on the sector. As a result, associations in Egypt are becoming hybrid formations embodying neoliberal values while stretching Islamic practices of giving. Working through an assemblage of technologies of the self and of the social body, practices of giving are one way the regulation of the personal has become linked to the regulation of political or civil conduct. Recognizing the importance of NGOs, and yet threatened by much of their activities, the state has had to renegotiate its stance on Islamic associations, differentiating developmental organizations from political ones.
Discipline
Geography
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
None