Michael Jindra | Boston University (original) (raw)

Books by Michael Jindra

Berghahn, 2011

Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous... more Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.

Michael Jindra is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and a visiting research scholar in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He has published in journals such as Africa, Sociology of Religion, Anthropological Forum, and Society and has also contributed chapters to a number of books. His current research focuses on the connection between lifestyle diversity, culture, and inequality in the US.

Joël Noret is Assistant Professor of anthropology at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He has been conducting fieldwork in southern Benin since the beginning of the 2000s. His publications include the co-edited special issue of Gradhiva, Mémoire de l'esclavage au Bénin (with Gaetano Ciarcia, 2008), his monograph, Deuil et funérailles dans le Bénin méridional. Enterrer à tout prix (Brussels, 2010), and Mort et dynamiques sociales au Katanga (with Pierre Petit, Tervuren-Paris, 2011).

“This collection is of great benefit to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, development studies, economics, history, religious studies.”
Rebekah Lee, Goldsmiths, University of London

"Funerals in Africa is an excellent volume. Based on outstanding original research the collection shows how social and economic changes in Africa are illuminated through the analysis of burials, mortuary rites, mourning and remembrance. In this collection encounters with world religions emerge as the key theme. Death and burial are therefore employed to illuminate classic debates on conversion, reformism and local-global religious tensions. Highly recommended for anthropologists and historians and a major contribution to African studies."
David Pratten, Director, African Studies Centre, Oxford University

How do people in poverty and homelessness change their lives and get back on their feet? Homeless... more How do people in poverty and homelessness change their lives and get back on their feet? Homeless shelters across the world play a huge role in this process. Many of them are religious, but there is a lot of diversity in faith-based non-profits that assist people affected by poverty and homelessness. In this timely book, the authors look at three homeless shelters that take more or less intensive approaches to faith, community, and programming.

Articles by Michael Jindra

Replicating the Nordic welfare model: policy prescriptions that recognize the cultural antecedents of solidarity, 2024

Purpose – In this article, we examine the historical and cultural foundations of Nordic states’ ... more Purpose – In this article, we examine the historical and cultural
foundations of Nordic states’ strong contemporary social indicators to understand whether their successes can be replicated in other contexts.
Design/methodology/approach – We draw on a range of academic literature to frame a comparison of two regions’ cultural and theological roots, identifying contrasts to make arguments about prescriptions for contemporary welfare policy.
Findings – We find Nordic history contributes to a duty-based culture with strong cohesion and social trust. These cultural norms make palatable welfare policies with strong activation measures, while the US model prefers to avoid the latter because of its strong cultural orientation to rights and autonomy.
Social implications – To mitigate differences between the Nordic states and other cultural contexts, policymakers seeking to replicate Nordic welfare successes should consider welfare programming that combines stronger activation policies with oversight and relational components that mitigate gaps in social cohesion. Originality/value – We uniquely bring together the literature on comparative welfare policy and on religion and culture to understand the precursors of contemporary attitudes and their implications for welfare policy prescriptions.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023

How social science studies are increasingly biased by ideology that purports to show structural c... more How social science studies are increasingly biased by ideology that purports to show structural causes of social problems. One example is the statistics that surround popular academic narratives around Asian Americans.

Contemporary Immigration: Psychological Perspectives on Challenges and Solutions, 2022

In this essay, we use the Equality – Difference Paradox as a framework to both conceptualize and ... more In this essay, we use the Equality – Difference Paradox as a framework to both conceptualize and analyze broad policy approaches attempting to resolve and sooth the proposed tension between conflicting tendencies between equality and multiculturalism. We apply the paradox to three case studies: two examples in western liberal democracies (the United States and Denmark) and one case in an eastern dictatorship: (China). We examine how the paradox is confronted in each of these three countries. We end by tracing out policy lessons from each case for dealing with immigration.

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2019

Among antipoverty nonprofit organizations (NPOs), a significant shift back to “relational work” h... more Among antipoverty nonprofit organizations (NPOs), a significant shift back to “relational work” has been occurring. This form of human services connotes strong bonds and durable engagement with clients on major life changes. Critics have associated such efforts with paternalistic and disciplinary regimes reinforcing broader neoliberal trends. Perhaps now, with mounting pressures toward (narrow) professionalization among nonprofits, these illuminating critiques can usefully be paired with investigations doing justice to relational work’s beneficial inner workings and effects. Informed by years of immersion in NPOs and insights from ‘late’ Foucault—ironically the central theoretical influence among critics of relational work—we show how and why researchers might approach even problematic aspects of this form of social action as unavoidable elements capable of contributing to the alleviation of poverty. The conclusion argues for pragmatic and multifaceted approaches to the study and management of antipoverty nonprofits balancing both the precariousness and promise of relational work.

There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call relational wo... more There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call relational work, which involves working with clients over time on life changes. Some scholars discuss this, often in negative terms, as part of a broader neoliberal trend. We argue that relational work is an important and unavoidable part of ongoing efforts against poverty and homelessness. We also discuss the broader theoretical context that make scholars suspicious of this kind of antipoverty work, and argue for a multifaceted approach to poverty that includes attention to relational work and the agency of clients.

The tension between the values of economic equality and diversity can be found throughout the wor... more The tension between the values of economic equality and diversity can be found throughout the world, and yet it rarely is recognized by scholars, partly because it deals with the sensitive area of culture and poverty. This article will focus on where this tension comes from, how and where it is expressed both worldwide and in the United States, and why anthropologists and sociologists neglect it. The tension expresses itself in predicaments in contexts ranging from government policy (e.g., on indigenous groups) to the workings of local antipoverty nonprofits, often confounding attempts to deal with the issue of inequality. The issue is neglected for a number of reasons, including the preferred narratives of poverty scholars and their assumptions about human aspiration and fault. Instead, I argue for better attention to the complexities of human action, culture, and agency in order to understand poverty and inequality.

On Knowing Humanity, 2019

Discussion of the authors' forthcoming book "From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the S... more Discussion of the authors' forthcoming book "From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences" (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

This article highlights how one nonprofit organization deals with the controversial issue of cult... more This article highlights how one nonprofit organization deals with the controversial issue of culture and poverty through its interactions with low-income individuals. Through interviews and participant observation, we analyze its curriculum and process, which focuses on helping participants become more reflexive by analyzing their past life and potential futures through a social class analysis. At the same time, we discuss a key theoretical debate over culture and action/agency. Specifically, we examine the distinction between practical and discursive consciousness (or declarative and non-declarative culture), and issues of agency. We show how this theoretical process is accomplished in the organization by providing people with the opportunity to change their habits, skills, "cultured capacities" and "repertoires," which can help them get out of poverty. We also show other factors, such as social support, are crucial and how the overall process works more for some than for others.

This is an NSF (National Science Foundation) whitepaper that was part of a call for papers to hel... more This is an NSF (National Science Foundation) whitepaper that was part of a call for papers to help prioritize future research.
Some of this later published in "The Dilemma of Equality and Diversity" (see other article above).

Funerals in Africa. Explorations of a Social Phenomenon, 2011

Pastoral Psychology, 2019

Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in... more Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in recent years in the United States and the English-speaking world in general. In this paper, the authors aim to illustrate the value of the role of biographical sociology and, more specifically, of the narrative interview developed by Fritz Schütze that is commonly used in German-speaking Europe for social work and pastoral care. They focus on interviewees’ biographical trajectories for a better understanding of the ways people afflicted by homelessness respond to living in a local, evangelical-based homeless shelter and the initial steps they take to improve their lives. In order to understand the role of biographical trajectory and how participants address it, the authors provide two case studies of individuals living in homeless shelters at the time of the interview. They then contend that this form of narrative interview has the capacity to help in understanding a person’s life history and biographical trajectory in-depth and could be used as a form of assessment that would contribute to social work and pastoral care in the United States.

The Hedgehog Review, Sep 2014

Funerals in Africa. Explorations of a Social Phenomenon, 2011

Religion and Popular Culture in America (Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan, eds. University of California Press., 2017

This is an updated (2017), condensed version of the 1994 journal article "Star Trek Fandom as a R... more This is an updated (2017), condensed version of the 1994 journal article "Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon." The original article was featured in the Washington Post and many other media as it was coincidentally published around the same as "Star Trek: Next Generation" ended in 1994 as one of the most popular programs ever.

Sociology of Religion, 1994

This article has been condensed and updated several times since its original publication in 1994.... more This article has been condensed and updated several times since its original publication in 1994. The most recent updated version (2017) is a chapter in the third edition of the text "Religion and Popular Culture in America," Forbes and Mahan, eds. University of California Press.

Berghahn, 2011

Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous... more Across Africa, funerals and events remembering the dead have become larger and even more numerous over the years. Whereas in the West death is normally a private and family affair, in Africa funerals are often the central life cycle event, unparalleled in cost and importance, for which families harness vast amounts of resources to host lavish events for multitudes of people with ramifications well beyond the event. Though officials may try to regulate them, the popularity of these events often makes such efforts fruitless, and the elites themselves spend tremendously on funerals. This volume brings together scholars who have conducted research on funerary events across sub-Saharan Africa. The contributions offer an in-depth understanding of the broad changes and underlying causes in African societies over the years, such as changes in religious beliefs, social structure, urbanization, and technological changes and health.

Michael Jindra is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and a visiting research scholar in the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He has published in journals such as Africa, Sociology of Religion, Anthropological Forum, and Society and has also contributed chapters to a number of books. His current research focuses on the connection between lifestyle diversity, culture, and inequality in the US.

Joël Noret is Assistant Professor of anthropology at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He has been conducting fieldwork in southern Benin since the beginning of the 2000s. His publications include the co-edited special issue of Gradhiva, Mémoire de l'esclavage au Bénin (with Gaetano Ciarcia, 2008), his monograph, Deuil et funérailles dans le Bénin méridional. Enterrer à tout prix (Brussels, 2010), and Mort et dynamiques sociales au Katanga (with Pierre Petit, Tervuren-Paris, 2011).

“This collection is of great benefit to scholars and students across a wide range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, development studies, economics, history, religious studies.”
Rebekah Lee, Goldsmiths, University of London

"Funerals in Africa is an excellent volume. Based on outstanding original research the collection shows how social and economic changes in Africa are illuminated through the analysis of burials, mortuary rites, mourning and remembrance. In this collection encounters with world religions emerge as the key theme. Death and burial are therefore employed to illuminate classic debates on conversion, reformism and local-global religious tensions. Highly recommended for anthropologists and historians and a major contribution to African studies."
David Pratten, Director, African Studies Centre, Oxford University

How do people in poverty and homelessness change their lives and get back on their feet? Homeless... more How do people in poverty and homelessness change their lives and get back on their feet? Homeless shelters across the world play a huge role in this process. Many of them are religious, but there is a lot of diversity in faith-based non-profits that assist people affected by poverty and homelessness. In this timely book, the authors look at three homeless shelters that take more or less intensive approaches to faith, community, and programming.

Replicating the Nordic welfare model: policy prescriptions that recognize the cultural antecedents of solidarity, 2024

Purpose – In this article, we examine the historical and cultural foundations of Nordic states’ ... more Purpose – In this article, we examine the historical and cultural
foundations of Nordic states’ strong contemporary social indicators to understand whether their successes can be replicated in other contexts.
Design/methodology/approach – We draw on a range of academic literature to frame a comparison of two regions’ cultural and theological roots, identifying contrasts to make arguments about prescriptions for contemporary welfare policy.
Findings – We find Nordic history contributes to a duty-based culture with strong cohesion and social trust. These cultural norms make palatable welfare policies with strong activation measures, while the US model prefers to avoid the latter because of its strong cultural orientation to rights and autonomy.
Social implications – To mitigate differences between the Nordic states and other cultural contexts, policymakers seeking to replicate Nordic welfare successes should consider welfare programming that combines stronger activation policies with oversight and relational components that mitigate gaps in social cohesion. Originality/value – We uniquely bring together the literature on comparative welfare policy and on religion and culture to understand the precursors of contemporary attitudes and their implications for welfare policy prescriptions.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023

How social science studies are increasingly biased by ideology that purports to show structural c... more How social science studies are increasingly biased by ideology that purports to show structural causes of social problems. One example is the statistics that surround popular academic narratives around Asian Americans.

Contemporary Immigration: Psychological Perspectives on Challenges and Solutions, 2022

In this essay, we use the Equality – Difference Paradox as a framework to both conceptualize and ... more In this essay, we use the Equality – Difference Paradox as a framework to both conceptualize and analyze broad policy approaches attempting to resolve and sooth the proposed tension between conflicting tendencies between equality and multiculturalism. We apply the paradox to three case studies: two examples in western liberal democracies (the United States and Denmark) and one case in an eastern dictatorship: (China). We examine how the paradox is confronted in each of these three countries. We end by tracing out policy lessons from each case for dealing with immigration.

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 2019

Among antipoverty nonprofit organizations (NPOs), a significant shift back to “relational work” h... more Among antipoverty nonprofit organizations (NPOs), a significant shift back to “relational work” has been occurring. This form of human services connotes strong bonds and durable engagement with clients on major life changes. Critics have associated such efforts with paternalistic and disciplinary regimes reinforcing broader neoliberal trends. Perhaps now, with mounting pressures toward (narrow) professionalization among nonprofits, these illuminating critiques can usefully be paired with investigations doing justice to relational work’s beneficial inner workings and effects. Informed by years of immersion in NPOs and insights from ‘late’ Foucault—ironically the central theoretical influence among critics of relational work—we show how and why researchers might approach even problematic aspects of this form of social action as unavoidable elements capable of contributing to the alleviation of poverty. The conclusion argues for pragmatic and multifaceted approaches to the study and management of antipoverty nonprofits balancing both the precariousness and promise of relational work.

There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call relational wo... more There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call relational work, which involves working with clients over time on life changes. Some scholars discuss this, often in negative terms, as part of a broader neoliberal trend. We argue that relational work is an important and unavoidable part of ongoing efforts against poverty and homelessness. We also discuss the broader theoretical context that make scholars suspicious of this kind of antipoverty work, and argue for a multifaceted approach to poverty that includes attention to relational work and the agency of clients.

The tension between the values of economic equality and diversity can be found throughout the wor... more The tension between the values of economic equality and diversity can be found throughout the world, and yet it rarely is recognized by scholars, partly because it deals with the sensitive area of culture and poverty. This article will focus on where this tension comes from, how and where it is expressed both worldwide and in the United States, and why anthropologists and sociologists neglect it. The tension expresses itself in predicaments in contexts ranging from government policy (e.g., on indigenous groups) to the workings of local antipoverty nonprofits, often confounding attempts to deal with the issue of inequality. The issue is neglected for a number of reasons, including the preferred narratives of poverty scholars and their assumptions about human aspiration and fault. Instead, I argue for better attention to the complexities of human action, culture, and agency in order to understand poverty and inequality.

On Knowing Humanity, 2019

Discussion of the authors' forthcoming book "From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the S... more Discussion of the authors' forthcoming book "From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences" (Cambridge University Press, 2019).

This article highlights how one nonprofit organization deals with the controversial issue of cult... more This article highlights how one nonprofit organization deals with the controversial issue of culture and poverty through its interactions with low-income individuals. Through interviews and participant observation, we analyze its curriculum and process, which focuses on helping participants become more reflexive by analyzing their past life and potential futures through a social class analysis. At the same time, we discuss a key theoretical debate over culture and action/agency. Specifically, we examine the distinction between practical and discursive consciousness (or declarative and non-declarative culture), and issues of agency. We show how this theoretical process is accomplished in the organization by providing people with the opportunity to change their habits, skills, "cultured capacities" and "repertoires," which can help them get out of poverty. We also show other factors, such as social support, are crucial and how the overall process works more for some than for others.

This is an NSF (National Science Foundation) whitepaper that was part of a call for papers to hel... more This is an NSF (National Science Foundation) whitepaper that was part of a call for papers to help prioritize future research.
Some of this later published in "The Dilemma of Equality and Diversity" (see other article above).

Funerals in Africa. Explorations of a Social Phenomenon, 2011

Pastoral Psychology, 2019

Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in... more Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in recent years in the United States and the English-speaking world in general. In this paper, the authors aim to illustrate the value of the role of biographical sociology and, more specifically, of the narrative interview developed by Fritz Schütze that is commonly used in German-speaking Europe for social work and pastoral care. They focus on interviewees’ biographical trajectories for a better understanding of the ways people afflicted by homelessness respond to living in a local, evangelical-based homeless shelter and the initial steps they take to improve their lives. In order to understand the role of biographical trajectory and how participants address it, the authors provide two case studies of individuals living in homeless shelters at the time of the interview. They then contend that this form of narrative interview has the capacity to help in understanding a person’s life history and biographical trajectory in-depth and could be used as a form of assessment that would contribute to social work and pastoral care in the United States.

The Hedgehog Review, Sep 2014

Funerals in Africa. Explorations of a Social Phenomenon, 2011

Religion and Popular Culture in America (Bruce Forbes and Jeffrey Mahan, eds. University of California Press., 2017

This is an updated (2017), condensed version of the 1994 journal article "Star Trek Fandom as a R... more This is an updated (2017), condensed version of the 1994 journal article "Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon." The original article was featured in the Washington Post and many other media as it was coincidentally published around the same as "Star Trek: Next Generation" ended in 1994 as one of the most popular programs ever.

Sociology of Religion, 1994

This article has been condensed and updated several times since its original publication in 1994.... more This article has been condensed and updated several times since its original publication in 1994. The most recent updated version (2017) is a chapter in the third edition of the text "Religion and Popular Culture in America," Forbes and Mahan, eds. University of California Press.

Aero Magazine, 2019

Who differences at local levels play into populism

Highlights the trend toward relational work among major nonprofits that work with the poor

This dissertation is a regional study of the mortuary cycle in the Northwest Province of Cameroon... more This dissertation is a regional study of the mortuary cycle in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, and of transformations in the cycle due to twentieth century historical changes.

Sociology of Religion, 2009

American Anthropologist, 2002

Pastoral Psychology, 2018

Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in... more Qualitative methods, and specifically narrative interviews, have received increasing attention in recent years in the United States and the English-speaking world in general. In this paper, the authors aim to illustrate the value of the role of biographical sociology and, more specifically, of the narrative interview developed by Fritz Schütze that is commonly used in German-speaking Europe for social work and pastoral care. They focus on interviewees' biographical trajectories for a better understanding of the ways people afflicted by homelessness respond to living in a local, evangelical-based homeless shelter and the initial steps they take to improve their lives. In order to understand the role of biographical trajectory and how participants address it, the authors provide two case studies of individuals living in homeless shelters at the time of the interview. They then contend that this form of narrative interview has the capacity to help in understanding a person's life history and biographical trajectory indepth and could be used as a form of assessment that would contribute to social work and pastoral care in the United States. Keywords Narrative interview. Biographical sociology. Homelessness. Social work. Pastoral care Biographical sociology, and more specifically the narrative interview method developed by Fritz Schütze, is an established part of social work and sociology, especially in German-speaking Europe. It is characterized by a focus on biographies and their social context, including what people themselves tell us about their lives (Chamberlayne et al. 2010; International Sociological Association Website n.d.,

Report on Culture Miniconference..................p. 1

OKH Journal: Anthropological Ethnography and Analysis Through the Eyes of Christian Faith

There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call Brelational w... more There has been a significant shift among antipoverty nonprofits toward what we call Brelational work,^which involves working with clients over time on life changes. Some scholars discuss this, often in negative terms, as part of a broader neoliberal trend. We argue that relational work is an important and unavoidable part of ongoing efforts against poverty and homelessness. We also discuss the broader theoretical context that make scholars suspicious of this kind of antipov-erty work, and argue for a multifaceted approach to poverty that includes attention to relational work and the agency of clients.

In Food and Poverty: Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty among America's Poor, eds. Leslie Hossfeld, E. Brooke Kelly and Julia Waity. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2018

Social class is one aspect of a broader diversity that we argue is crucial to understanding issue... more Social class is one aspect of a broader diversity that we argue is crucial to understanding issues of food and poverty. While much attention has been given to the structural forces of the American food system that link poverty to food insecurity and obesity, little attention has been paid to cultural issues mediating food and poverty, despite the recent growth of the field of “food and culture studies.” Indeed, most social issues involve the interactions of social forces at three levels: structures, cultures, and persons, or as others
put it, “macro,” “meso” and “micro.” Any initiatives designed to address eating and health issues and why they differ across categories such as race and class cannot be just individualistic but must understand the entire sociocultural context of food habits. Other chapters in this volume often highlight structural issues, while we focus on the diversity of how people live, including their lifestyles and the mediating role of culture. This also means understanding the major issue of the relation between individual motivations and structural constraints.

American Purpose, 2022

https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/what-would-richard-pipes-say-today/

Books & Culture, 2003

Review of "Mary Douglas: An intellectual Biography" by Richard Fardon (1999)