Religion og rusomsorg : en studie av ansatte og frivillige i Kristiansand Blå Kors-forening og på Borgestadklinikken avdeling Loland

Abstract

This thesis explores how religion is expressed by employees and voluntary personnel affiliated with The Blue Cross during two months the summer of 2011. The question I try to answer is “how is religion expressed in the operations and activities of the Blue Cross in the municipalities of Kristiansand and Vennesla in the summer of 2011?” The Blue Cross is a Christian organization engaged in treatment and rehabilitation of people suffering from drug-addiction. In my thesis I focus on actions and utterances made by employees and voluntary personnel at Borgestadklinikken Blå Kors Sør, Loland (which is owned by The Blue Cross), and the local Blue Cross community in Kristiansand. I answer the problem as presented using participant observations, conversations and interviews as methodological tools. The chosen theoretical perspectives enable me to focus on how rooms, and as such opportunities for expressions, are created between people communicating; how rituals set some actions apart from others; how variety in practice can be found everywhere and lastly; how both student and the ones being studied are socially and physically positioned observers that move in space and time, thus creating a temporary, contextual reality.