Living in the Tension: A cross-cultural comparative study of the meaning and management of care, self-care, and wellbeing across two communities of faith-based youth workers.

New Zealand;Uganda;Youth work;Christian;Faith-based;religion;spirituality;neoliberalism;work;organisation studies;social work;health;wellbeing;mental health;burnout;comparative;theodicy;discourse;emotion;emotional labour;compassion fatigue;Christchurch;Kampala;self-care

Wardell, Susan Edith ; Fitzgerald, Ruth ; Bourk, Michael

University of Otago

关键词: New Zealand;    Uganda;    Youth work;    Christian;    Faith-based;    religion;    spirituality;    neoliberalism;    work;    organisation studies;    social work;    health;    wellbeing;    mental health;    burnout;    comparative;    theodicy;    discourse;    emotion;    emotional labour;    compassion fatigue;    Christchurch;    Kampala;    self-care;   

Others  :  https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/10523/6382/1/WardellSusan2016PhD.pdf

美国|英语

来源: Otago University Research Archive

【 摘 要 】

This ethnographic project explored how faith-based youth workers in two communities – Moment of Truth Evangelistic Ministries (MOTEM) in Kampala, Uganda, and Canterbury Youth Services (CYS) in Canterbury, New Zealand – managed and made sense of their own wellbeing, against an ongoing tension between care and self-care. The comparative approach enabled an examination of two local articulations of a global faith system, as well as two situated examples of the effect of neoliberalism on the faith-based organisations (FBOs). The experience of burnout, as a culturally-grounded idiom of distress with strong ties in existing literature to care labour and the non-profit sector, was the entry point into this study. The analysis of interviews, focus group material, primary texts and ethnographic field notes drew heavily from a narrative discourse approach. This highlighted the significance of language, metaphor, and narrative in their sense-making, but with a performativity focus that examined these not as static texts, but as part of subject formation. This study also applied a post-structuralist perspective to examining the discursive construction of the ;;good’ leader in a specific historical moment. This provided context for the moral and emotional labour observed in each siteMy findings were that balance, paradox, and re-categorisation were key techniques used to manage discursive tension. Such strategies were both storied and embodied. Distinctive local ;;aesthetics’ which patterned practice were also identified, including self-awareness and balance (in Canterbury), and self-control and empowerment (in Kampala). Through all of these, neoliberal discourses were shown to be contributing to a responsibilisation of the youth leader for their own wellbeing. Ultimately, although numerous institutional and ideological forces are at work in their complex and morally-fraught social fields, faith-based youth workers exercise creativity, agency and resilience in navigating these to maintain their cherished identities and manage their wellbeing whilst conducting the demanding care labour involved.