The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP)
In 2011, I conducted my first ethnographic fieldwork project at the local Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP) chapter in Kamloops, British Columbia. I explored “the pure gift” in terms of both volunteering and what is needed to maintain its existence. I identified vernacular phases to secure “the pure gift” as such. I found that these conditions are met when a giver validates character, practices empathy, performs humility, enables betterment, and allows spiritual union for a gift to be experienced as pure. One of the greatest discoveries with this fieldwork is how gifts themselves are agents of change and transformation—often for the better.
Forthcoming Ethnographic Articles
“Samaritan Thanksgivings, Christly Transformations: The Hurt, the Wounded, the Lost Children of the Lamb alike in Charitable Suffering and Perseverance at the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of Kamloops, British Columbia.” (in second submission to Anthropologica, peer-reviewed journal, ethnographic study.)