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In this episode on religion, Miranda talks to sociologist and religious scholar Professor Ruth Braunstein and anthropologist Dr Anna Rikka-Kauppinen.
Anna-Rikka and Miranda have collaborated and crossed paths many times over the years. Anna-Rikka’s work on understanding capitalism in Africa today is never normative, but always impressively considers whole contexts. In looking at taxes in Ghana, she began working with mega-churches - exploring how people think about their taxes alongside their tithes, and whether all money is the same, or whether it is different.
Miranda first came across Ruth’s work when her book ‘My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America’ came out last year, but admits to not having read it until hearing Ruth on a podcast discussing religion and tax.
On that podcast, Ruth addressed deep philosophical questions that resonated with Miranda’s own work - how people conceptualise the tax that they pay, and why these conceptualisations are forged through political, social and religious frameworks.
Ruth speaks openly about growing up in a religious household, and this has shaped the kinds of questions she asks. Ruth also hosts an incredible podcast of her own, ‘When the Wolves Came’, about evangelical Christians in the US rejecting extremism - another fascinating element of religious politics.
Links to Ruth’s work:
https://soc.jhu.edu/directory/ruth-braunstein/
https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/
My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America
https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-tax-dollars-the-morality-of-taxpaying-in-america-ruth-braunstein/1ebf09e335468984?ean=9780691254999&next=t&affiliate=104582
Ruth’s podcast:
https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/podcast
Links to Anna-Riikka work:
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/anna-riikka-kauppinen
Article by Anna-Riikka on taxes and mega churches:
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640203.xml
This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com