202557(en)/18 - Human Promotion: A Guiding Concept for Practices and Values Among Christian Development Agents and Organizations in Argentina’s Gran Chaco (1970-1980)
HUMAN PROMOTION: A GUIDING CONCEPT FOR PRACTICES AND VALUES AMONG CHRISTIAN DEVELOPMENT AGENTS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN ARGENTINA’S GRAN CHACO (1970-1980)
LA PROMOCIÓN HUMANA: UN CONCEPTO RECTOR A PRÁCTICAS Y VALORES ENTRE AGENTES Y ORGANIZACIONES DE DESARROLLO CRISTIANAS DEL GRAN CHACO ARGENTINO (1970-1980)
Natalia Castelnuovo Biraben y Anabella Verónica Denuncio
Between the 1970s and 1980s, “human promotion” emerged as the guiding concept framing a set of ideas, actions, and values that mobilized actors from religious backgrounds and Christian development organizations. This article traces the origins of this concept back to the paradigm of the new evangelization articulated in Medellín, and analyzes its consolidation as an alternative to ideas of ‘assistance’ and ‘charity’. Based on ethnographic interviews and archival materials, the text examines human promotion initiatives directed toward indigenous and criollo groups in Argentina’s Gran Chaco, carried out by these development actors and
organizations. The analysis reveals that the concept of “human promotion” involves three key dimensions vital to understanding the presence and actions of development and religious agents in the region: local knowledge, self-awareness, and forms of organization and mobilization. This concept has become the driving force and guiding framework for the territorial work carried out by various Christian development agents and institutions.
