Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 57-92.

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NGO Global,Volunteerism Local: An Exploration of Moral Anthropology

FANG Hongxin   

  1. School of Health Humanities, Peking University
  • Online:2019-05-20 Published:2019-05-20

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Abstract:

This paper is an exploratory research of moral anthropology focused on the local practices of global NGOs. For over more than 10 years, Ruili Women and Children Development Center (the Center) in southwest border of China has developed itself into a NGO that adopts international practices and fosters a spirit of grassroots volunteer dedication. In this paper, two anthropologists' analytic framework of morality will be examined and the author's view on morality/ethics based on the above case study will be discussed in three aspects:morality as norm, morality as good deeds, and ethics as effect of life itself. The Center came into existence in response to the decline and uncertainty of local morality norm. Under such a condition, the Center alliances itself with the transnational global humanitarian ideas and practices to provide the much needed medical care for the sick in the region. In the process, the Center, mainly made of female members, has created a viable organization that is in tune with global NGO humanitarian concepts and practices and an army of devoted volunteers, especially among the HIV infected women, who have found new meanings and ethics in life. This study hopes to broaden our theoretical and experiential understanding of NGOs, and of how to meet the societal needs at the times of social change.

Key words: morality, ethics, NGO, affect, apparatus/dispositive