Is charity a gift? Northern Irish supporters of Christian missions overseas

Abstract

In Northern Ireland, as elsewhere in the British Isles, mainline church denominations support their own mission societies. A small study of their attitudes and objectives was conducted with society officials, and with leading supporters in different denominations. Working in solidarity with others in their congregation, supporters were often more interested in helping to relieve suffering than to learn about the cultures and politics of the ‘missionised’. The sociality and disinterestedness of such charitable activities is contrary to some common assumptions about Western individualistic giving, deserves anthropological analysis and is relatable to Maussian theories of ‘the gift’.

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