Practices and rationales of embodied philanthropy

Abstract

In the past decades, philanthropy, like many aspects of contemporary culture, has taken a bodily turn. This paper argues that embodied philanthropy, the temporarily alteration of one's physical appearance or routine behaviors in support of a cause, is flourishing because the body simultaneously and with relatively little effort serves the various needs of both participants and campaign organizers. The body's multivalent semiotic potential allows it to be, when philanthropically tasked, an income generator, billboard, martyred example, producer of emotion, pedagogical space, exemplar of good health, and style project and to cohere these functions despite potential tensions.A series of micro-case studies of various Australian appearance, activity, and abstention-based initiatives draws on cultural theories of the body to explicate these 7 core functions of the philanthropic body and highlight key concerns for campaign design and evaluation. This study contends that a holistic view of embodied philanthropy initiatives is needed to better understand their impact and provides practitioners and scholars with a framework for understanding an area of philanthropy where practice outstrips research.

Embodied philanthropy and Sir Captain Tom Moore's “Walk for the NHS”

“…In recent decades, a growing social phenomenon has emerged around “embodied philanthropy,” with participants called upon “to pledge their bodies to raise funds for and awareness of a variety of causes” (Robert, 2018, p. 1). From charity fun runs, Dry July sobriety challenges, to the viral spectacle of the Ice Bucket challenge, the body in both its potentials and privations has become central to acts of charitable giving.…”

“…An emerging ideal of embodied citizenship, therefore, is not just that we should cultivate personal resilience, but do so in service of others, demonstrating through our physical feats what a wholly self‐governing citizen can achieve. Robert (2018), p. 2 observes that much scholarship on embodied philanthropy has typically adopted “a critical stance concerning who is targeted by these campaigns, who is excluded and for what reasons.” King (2012) and Sulik (2011), for example, have drawn attention to the cultural politics surrounding mass participation‐based philanthropic movements, noting that their “upbeat message of empowerment, in tune with contemporary liberal, individualist self‐empowerment zeitgeist” often obscures or even exacerbates underlying structural inequalities (King, 2012, p. 3).…”

“…While these critiques are important, there remains a tendency to overlook the significance of the body and to instead analyze it only in reference to “related agendas oriented around martyrdom, empathy, and health promotion” (Robert, 2018, p. 3). However, a greater emphasis on the body usefully connects with wider sociological and feminist accounts, which recognize the importance of embodiment and emotions to everyday practices of ethics and autonomy (Fullagar & Pavlidis, 2018; Hookway, 2019).…”

“…What did his acts symbolize and what drove his incredible popularity and the success of his philanthropic efforts? This article addresses these questions by drawing upon Julie Robert's (2018) theoretical framework of “embodied philanthropy.” The article argues that Captain Tom Moore possessed a set of bodily displayed symbolic markers that imbued his efforts with an almost universal appeal. Moore's age, disability, military adornments, everyman Yorkshire‐ness, and his unfailingly positive, aphoristic style of speaking presented a range of “tools” that enabled him to be “staged, handled, performed” (Mol, 2002, pp.…”

“…40–41) in multiple appealing ways. This multiplicity, suggests Robert (2018) p. 4, is “a central premise of embodied philanthropy,” for it “explains how the body can be or serve as many things at once to both participants and campaign creators.” By applying Robert's framework of embodied philanthropy, this article systematically unpacks how Moore's distinct bodily affordances enabled him to simultaneously serve as an honest broker, teacher, exemplar, rallying figure, and ultimately martyr. The article concludes by noting some of the risks that third sector organizations may face in leaning too heavily on novel exemplars of embodied philanthropy.…”