Materializing Poverty
How the Poor Transform Their Lives
Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Demography, Sociology
| Author: | Erin B. Taylor | ISBN: | 9780759124226 |
| Publisher: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | Publication: | October 10, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | Language: | English |
| Author: | Erin B. Taylor |
| ISBN: | 9780759124226 |
| Publisher: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |
| Publication: | October 10, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |
| Language: | English |
Poverty is generally defined as a lack of material resources. However, the relationships that poor people have with their possessions are not just about deprivation. Material things play a positive role in the lives of poor people: they help people to build social relationships, address inequalities, and fulfill emotional needs. In this book, anthropologist Erin Taylor explores how residents of a squatter settlement in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, use their material resources creatively to solve everyday problems and, over a few decades, radically transform the community. Their struggles show how these everyday engagements with materiality, rather than more dramatic efforts, generate social change and build futures.
Poverty is generally defined as a lack of material resources. However, the relationships that poor people have with their possessions are not just about deprivation. Material things play a positive role in the lives of poor people: they help people to build social relationships, address inequalities, and fulfill emotional needs. In this book, anthropologist Erin Taylor explores how residents of a squatter settlement in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, use their material resources creatively to solve everyday problems and, over a few decades, radically transform the community. Their struggles show how these everyday engagements with materiality, rather than more dramatic efforts, generate social change and build futures.
