Narratives and Ontologies of faith-based aid workers

The growing number of missionary agencies and faith-based aid organizations — in Switzerland, for example, today over 70 religious aid organizations operate separately — constitutes a relatively new field of research. While great emphasis has been given to nineteenth-century missionary organizations, research on their descendants in an apparently secular age is still at its beginning. Studying the narratives and ontologies of Swiss and German-based Protestant aid workers and missionaries operating in the Global South, by conducting participant observations and narrative interviews, this project seeks to join the small group of pioneering scholars that aim to close this research gap. In particular, it focuses on self-perceptions, narratives about experiences of ontologies and biographical narratives. This approach offers a novel understanding of intercultural and interreligious encounters.