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BUILDING GLOBALCITIZENRY THROUGH
TEACHING ABOUT POVERTYFarida C Khan
Professor of EconomicsCo-Director, Center for International Studies
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Poverty Measures
$1 a day
$2 a day
Percentage below poverty line
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QuickTime and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
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The higher
the bar,
the greater
the
proportion
of people
in poverty
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Where is poverty to be found?
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What percent is poor in each nation?
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If poverty is hunger,
how well do nations provide food for their people?
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What do we understand by
these numbers?
Cultural definitions
Historical experiencesEconomic processes
Visual understanding?
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Images
Heres what we might see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-
CtnxM
Or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-CtnxMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-CtnxMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFgb1BdPBZohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-CtnxMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-CtnxMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nf1j-CtnxM7/30/2019 Khan Global Poverty
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How should images be used?
To clarify the magnitude of theproblems?
Might they createmisunderstandings aboutsocieties?
To enable students to appreciatetheir circumstances?
Might they instill static ideas about
certain regions that are poor?
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How should information be
provided?Not too abstract?
Not too dehumanizing?
To generate interest?
To maintain respect forhumanity?
To overcomeobjectification?
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POSSIBLE MODELS to
IMPART INFORMATION
Technical ModelsHistorical Models
Cultural Models
Mix of the above?
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Technical Models
Source: World Bank, UNDP, IMF, NGOs
Human Development Index (UN):development indicators include income
poverty, life expectancy, literacy &schooling
Millennium Development Goals (UN)
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtmlhttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtmlhttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtmlhttp://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtmlhttp://www.endpoverty2015.org/http://www.endpoverty2015.org/7/30/2019 Khan Global Poverty
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Millennium Development Goal 1
ERADICATE EXTREMEPOVERTY & HUNGERTarget 1:
Halve, between 1990 and2015, the proportion ofpeople whose income is lessthan $1 a day
* Conflict leaves manydisplaced and impoverished
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Millennium Development Goal 1ERADICATE EXTREME
POVERTY & HUNGERTarget 2:
Achieve full and productive employmentand decent work for all, includingwomen and young people
* Low-paying jobs leave one in five
developing country workers mired inpoverty
* Half the worlds workforce toil inunstable, insecure jobs
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Millennium Development Goal 1
ERADICATE EXTREMEPOVERTY & HUNGER
Target 3:
Halve, between 1990 and2015, the proportion of peoplewho suffer from hunger
* Rising food prices threatenlimited gains in alleviating childmalnutrition
B ki th Li k B t
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Breaking the Link BetweenPoverty and Per Capita Income
Kerala and Sri LankaHans Rosling Video:
http://www.ted.com/index.h
p/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html
NGOs and delivery of basicservices (Grameen Bankand micro-credit)
http://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.htmlhttp://www.ted.com/index.hp/talks/hans_rosling_reveals_new_insights_on_poverty.html7/30/2019 Khan Global Poverty
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Historical Model
What has been our thinkingabout other countries?
Mercantilism: State interest andcolonization
Liberalism: Stationary
economies
Advent of developmenteconomics in 1940s/50s
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W.W Rostow: Stages of Growth,R. Nurkse: Balanced Growth,etc.
Suggests that there areunderdeveloped/traditional anddeveloped societies in aspectrum
Traditional societies included slavesystems of early Greece andRome; peasant societies inIndia, Egypt, China
Confluence of development andtime
Historical Model
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Dependency and WorldSystems theorists(60s/70s):
Development andcolonization causesunderdevelopment
Modern models of growthcreate system ofdependence and debt thatworsen poverty
Historical Model
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1980s/90s:
Neo-liberal policies - increasegrowth through market policies totrickle down
Kuznets curve? (growth inequality)
State provision of goods andservices
Juxtaposition of images of rich andpoor
Sense of entitlement but actual
conditions worsened in some places
Historical Model
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Economic crises such as
rising prices, reducedcredit, global recession
Climate change and
environmentaldegradation
CONTEMPORARY
ISSUES
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NGOS
Micro-credit
Advocacy
Projects
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Cultural Model
Pre-modern Culturalcontingency
Cultural differences;civilizational differences;
Policies based onunderstanding of a unifiednature - how much doanthropologists informunderstanding of poverty?
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Other regions in the world -multiplicities of indigenous
peoplesHow have cultures
contended with colonization
and modernity
Cultural Model
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Marshall Sahlins
"Hunters and gatherers have by force ofcircumstances an objectively low standard ofliving. but taken as their objective, and giventheir adequate means of production, all the
people's material wants usually can easily besatisfied (a common understanding of'affluence'). ... The world's most primitive
people have few possessions, but they are notpoor. Poverty is not a certain small amountof goods, nor is it just a relation betweenmeans and ends; above all it is a relationbetween people. Poverty is a social status. Assuch it is an invention of (modern)
civilization."
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NATURE HITS BACK?
We see the environment as what weuse but our daily habits,
interactions, architecture changesthe environment.
Environmental degradation goes
hand in hand with thehomogenization and unification ofcultures and the desire toconsume in a single manner.
Cultural Model
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TEACHING TIPS
1. Keep the connection between micro
and macro: case studies should be
used for generalizations
2. Focus on a single region or country orhave the student do so
3. Have the student tie this in with his/her
language class, literature, science
4. Learning more about a place will
generate love and ownership
5. Have the student do a creative project;
a video, narrative, poem, song
encourage action
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TEACHING TIPS
1. Suggest that the student should make
a pen friend in the country
2. Encourage Study Abroad to
destinations other than WesternEurope
3. Teach about heroes that fought poverty
4. Explain global resource scarcity and
the impossibility of a global American
lifestyle
5. Encourage involvement with a NGO or
charity organization; encourage the act
of giving to make a difference