Immobile Global: Christian Globalism at Home in the United States

Abstract

ABSTRACTDrawing on research with Christian child sponsors in the United States, this article explores the everyday techniques that work global commitments into being. It argues that global projects are compelling in how they tack back and forth between states associated with differing scales: the “immensity” of a God's‐eye view and a grounded view of human relatedness. Both are emotive and often embodied forms; however, the former lifts one outside humanness, while the latter seems to deepen connections with people far away. These modes are illustrated through the Christian use of statistical aesthetics and foodways. In the process, this article seeks to undo the persistent assumption that being global is natural to contemporary US evangelicalism. At a broader level, it contributes to a growing body of work that positions “transcendental orientations” (Keane 2015) as integral to the “world‐making” (Tsing 2005) through which people make and imagine global connections, whether they travel or not. [globalization, embodiment, humanitarianism, Christianity, United States]