How can we understand the identity-building processes of Christian Faith-based Organizations operating in Muslimcountries?- A Case Study of WorldVision in Jordan-

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates how faith-based organizations (FBO’s) operating in inter-faith contextsconduct identity-building processes to answer the research question “How can we understand theidentity-building processes of Christian faith-based organizations operating in Muslim countries?”.Hence, the author seeks to explore the role of Christian FBO’s in the international arena and thestudy of International Relations through the case study of WorldVision Jordan, a Christianorganization working within a predominantly Muslim country with mostly Muslim participants. Thethesis emphasizes the colonial as an indispensable part of Christianisation and humanitarianism andargues that the interfaith relations at play need to be understood within a double-subaltern context.Thus, a colonial conscious framework based on social constructivism and postcolonial IR theory isbuilt and its theoretical, conceptual and methodological implications then serve as a basis for theanalysis. WV’s identity-building processes are discursively analysed according to Schneider’s(2013) toolbox approach thereby evaluating not only the empirical data as such, but also itssurroundings, production, and context. Through the analysis of the organizations discursivelyconstructed Self against several Others, the thesis reveals a distorted self-perception and how theorganization pursues specific goals of religious persuasion