Context Of Poverty Research Articles

Sustainability and sustainable construction: the African context

The scope of Africa's developmental problems and a dramatically different worldview from that of the West requires a different approach to sustainability in Africa. The context of poverty and rapid urbanization suggests that sustainable urban development should be the focus of sustainable construction in Africa. However, it is argued this should be undertaken in a way that is relevant to the African cultural context, possibly through the inclusion of the values and worldview of traditional Africa in the definition and principles of sustainability. Using the understanding of interconnectedness as expressed by the cultural concept of Ubuntu, some principles are suggested for an African concept of sustainability that can inform the Western sustainability model and make it relevant to Africa. La nature des problèmes de développement en Afrique ainsi que le point de vue mondial radicalement divergent de celui de l'occident exigent une attitude différente en ce qui concerne le principe de durabilité en Afrique. La pauvreté et l'urbanisation rapide laissent à penser que le développement urbain durable devrait être au centre des principes de construction durable en Afrique. On prétend toutefois que cette évolution devrait se faire d'une manière telle qu'elle corresponde au contexte culturel africain, en incluant éventuellement les valeurs et le point de vue mondial de l'Afrique traditionnelle quant à la définition et aux principes de durabilité. Sur la base du principe d'interconnexité tel qu'il a été exprimé selon le concept culturel d'Ubuntu, cette communication suggère un certain nombre de principes pour un concept africain de la durabilité qui puisse contribuer au modèle occidental de durabilité et l'adapter à l'Afrique.

Mothers’ conceptions of child competence in contexts of poverty: The Philippines, St Vincent, and the United States

To explore mothers’ conceptions of child competence in three contexts of poverty, 58 mothers in a Filipino village, a Caribbean village, and an inner-city American homeless shelter described competent children in their communities. Interview responses addressed several questions. First, do mothers in these diverse settings share similar criteria in evaluating children? As expected, all three groups of mothers described competent children as well-behaved and obedient, satisfactory students, helpful in the family, and friendly with peers. Second, are adolescents less likely than younger children to be identi” ed spontaneously as examples of competence? In contrast to Filipino mothers, American shelter and Caribbean village mothers were unlikely to identify adolescent boys as competent. Lastly, what were mothers’ explanations for children’s competence? All mothers emphasised parenting as the most important factor in fostering competence, but differed on secondary factors. Results suggest that similarities may reflect shared concerns in adapting to poverty as well as shared salience in developmental tasks across these cultures. Differences in maternal conceptions may reflect demands and opportunities specific to each context.

Braving the Street: The Anthropology of Homelessness (review)

Reviewed by: Braving the Street: The Anthropology of Homelessness Catherine Kingfisher and Brad Pace Braving the Street: The Anthropology of Homelessness. Irene Glasser and Rae Bridgman. New York: Berghahn Books, 1999; 132 pp. The study of homelessness has increased in the last two decades, as the phenomenon itself has spread and taken on increasing salience in the public imagination. According to Glasser and Bridgman, however, with several exceptions, anthropological research on homelessness has been relegated to the sidelines of public-policy discussions, adding only colorful descriptions of people on the streets (p. 113). Braving the Street represents an intervention in this situation by outlining the direct relevance of anthropology to both the understanding and alleviation of homelessness. In a slim, easily accessible volume that speaks to a primarily non-anthropological audience, Glasser and Bridgman bring anthropology to bear on key questions related to homelessness: who is homeless and why, how people survive homelessness, and how the homeless can move to situations of secure housing. Glasser and Bridgman point to two unique features of the anthropological endeavor that render it particularly relevant to the study and relief of homelessness: its emphasis on "the native's point of view," and its proclivity to situate particular practices and beliefs within the wider social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of their occurrence. With these emphases in mind, and given their target audience of practitioners, Glasser and Bridgman utilize a review approach to the literature on homelessness, summarizing key themes, findings, and applications relevant to the North American context. Although the literature on Canada and (primarily) the U.S. is their main focus, Glasser and Bridgman also draw on studies of homelessness in India, Colombia, Chile, and the U.K. In Chapter One, the authors provide an overview of the anthropological approach to homelessness, and take note of several issues the approach generates. In particular, their cross-cultural, situationally specific analysis of homelessness points to a variety of ways in which it can be tackled, both analitically and practically. What constitutes homelessness, for instance, is not easily agreed upon, and any operational definition will have "a tremendous impact on the numbers and characteristics of the people included in the definition" (p. 3). Such numbers and characteristics will, in turn, have an impact on measures taken to relieve homelessness. In Chapter Two Glasser and Bridgman survey the literature on specific categories of homeless people-women, men, children, youth-in terms of their risks of homelessness, the particular configurations that their homelessness takes, and the problems they face while "outside," for example, substance abuse, violence, and mental illness. In the second half of the chapter the authors examine different census attempts to enumerate homeless people, with India cited as the most successful example. Finally, representations of homeless people in the U.S. and Colombia are discussed, in regard to which Glasser and Bridgman raise the very important question of who is in the position of constructing such [End Page 90] representations. Chapter Three, "Explaining Homelessness" begins with a discussion of the "personal pathology" and "structural" understandings of homelessness, the two main schools of thought addressing the whys of homelessness. Building on the holistic emphasis of anthropology, Glasser and Bridgman prefer an amalgamation of the two, as represented in "ecological" models that take into consideration not only the individual, but also the community, institutional, organizational, and cultural contexts of poverty and homelessness. There is no single reason for the upsurge in homelessness, which is linked by the authors to economics, the demolition of affordable housing in inner cities, deinstitutionalization of psychiatric inpatients, gentrification, and welfare reform, among other factors. Similarly complex analyses that take into consideration the multitudinous factors contributing to homelessness as well as the various needs of homeless individuals must also be brought to bear on efforts to relieve homelessness. If they are not, "social policies and programs . . .[may] exacerbate that which they were intended to alleviate" (p. 54). The insulation of homeless people in shelters, for example, may serve to cut them off from mainstream peer group and lifestyles. In Chapter Four Glasser and Bridgman review and analyze ethnographic studies of the experience of homelessness. These studies exemplify the emic approach valorized by the authors...

Environmental Enforcement and Small Industries in India: Reworking the Problem in the Poverty Context

Environmental enforcement in India has been ad hoc and generally ineffective. Environmental agencies have been more active in recent years, targeting small and medium industries. A sanction-based strategy is used to enforce environmental standards. This study shows that the present policies have severe limitations, are counterproductive to long-term environmental management and are anti-poor. A solution to these problems may be a participatory and interactive approach to enforcement backed by a package of incentives and penalties. This requires a combination of sanction and compliance-based strategies. The shift, however, is fettered by an uni-dimensional conceptualization of what is fundamentally a multidimensional problem.

Symbolic Interactionism, African American Families, and the Transracial Adoption Controversy

This article applies a cultural perspective in considering the opposition of some African Americans to transracial adoption. The article presents a historical review of the transracial adoption controversy, detailing the arguments that have been presented in opposition and the legislation that has evolved. Symbolic interactionism is used to frame African Americans as a unique and distinct cultural group, in which the socialization of African American children takes place. The framework presented encompasses the meaning of children, family, and adoption to people of African descent, the racial and ethnic group as the context within which definitions of self and identity develop, and the efforts made in seeking to balance the integrity of concepts such as Baldwin's African self-consciousness with the values and goals of the larger U.S. society. Finally, the author makes recommendations to social workers for developing a research agenda that maintains but critically analyzes the role of African American group identity for framing research for assessing child maltreatment within the context of poverty and resource deficiencies rather than personal failures and for advocating public policies that preserve cultural realities.

Cultural competence and health care in Massachusetts: where are we? Where should we be?

The rapid growth of the non-White population in Massachusetts during the last decade mirrors that of the U.S. population with racial/ethnic minorities in 1995 making up 27% of the total population. Forty percent of the U.S. population will be immigrants or first generation Americans by the year 2000. Estimates predict that racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. will make up 48% of the total population by 2050; 14.4% will be Black, 22.5% Hispanic, 9.7% Asian American, 0.9% American Indian, and 52.5% White.1 This does not include new migrations from Europe. The growing diversity of the U.S. population is reflected also in the heterogeneity within racial/ethnic minority groups. Blacks include African Americans, Haitian Creole, and other Caribbean groups, while Hispanic or Latino Americans include individuals from South America, Central America, Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and others. Asian Americans include over 40 groups, with the most common in Massachusetts being Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Korean, Filipino, Japanese, and Indian. Native Americans include 365 tribes, with the Wampanoag and Micmac tribes being most common in Massachusetts. Each of the racial/ethnic groups has emphasized the significant heterogeneity within groups with respect to population demographics and health risk factors.2 Each racial/ethnic group has sought to eliminate the adverse effects of racism and stereotypes while supporting the importance of attending to unique group differences. The prevalence of negative stereotypes for Blacks and Hispanics and the adverse effects of the healthy model minority myth for Asians have resulted in discriminatory practices in service delivery and resource allocation for all of these groups. Yet, it is clear that the sociopolitical context of poverty, racism, immigration, and culture has had a significant bearing on health status, health care utilization, and access to care for all racial/ethnic groups.

Poverty amid Plenty: Lessons from Botswana’s Social Assistance Scheme

Social assistance programmes are making a strong comeback after social policy analysts had predicted their demise, as is the use of the budget standards approach to identifying poverty and to establishing the generosity of social assistance benefits. Using the example of Botswana, this article highlights some pitfalls in using the budget standards approach in social assistance schemes, and especially the parsimonious help the poor can expect from this approach. It suggests, however, that conventional explanations for the increasing popularity of social assistance, such as economic constraints and the pathologizing of the poor, are not universal. Greater attention needs to be given, therefore, to the context of poverty rather than to the customary focus of poverty studies on measuring poverty “objectively”.

Maternal sensitivity in a developing society: The context of urban poverty and infant chronic undernutrition.

Maternal sensitivity in a developing society: The context of urban poverty and infant chronic undernutrition.

Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Education Reform

Ghetto Schooling: A Political Economy of Urban Education Reform, by Jean Anyon. New York: Teacher's College Press, 1997. 217 pp. $18.95, paper. Emanating from a multiyear, consultative process with a cluster of schools in Newark, New Jersey, this work joins other recent analyses of inner-city education which purport to address the larger issues of educational reform. According to the foreword by William Julius Wilson, Anyon's work attempts to present a positive diversion from most of the work on educational reform, particularly in the public schools, in that she deliberately situates the analyses of urban education within the contexts of poverty and racial isolation. In Anyon's own words, she uses this research to reveal ways in which poverty and racial isolation have often trivialized efforts in [the] city to teach, learn, and to bring about change (p. xiv). However, Anyon's work is not merely intended to be an alternative way of looking at educational reform in the inner city. Instead, she proposes that her methodology for doing research there is generalizable and that pivotal to such generalizability is the incorporation of two important factors: (a) an understanding of how innercity schools have come to be what they are, and (b) a strategy to improve the lives and life chances of inner-city residents. The book is divided into three main parts in addition to an introduction. In part one, which focuses on the effects of race and social class on educational reform, the author goes to some length in demonstrating the importance of these factors in the educational reform process and the futility of engaging in educational reform when they are not taken into account. Part two describes the plans for educational reform in Newark within the local historical context and the wider context of American cities generally. Finally, in part three, Anyon recapitulates some of the main issues raised earlier in the book and offers her vision of urban educational reform. Anyon's engagement with race and class as important variables in the analysis of educational issues is not that of a neophyte; she is widely published in this area. She is equally aware that use of such variables is not without contention. Nevertheless, she chooses to focus on such issues because, despite their predisposition to being painful, they are necessary forces to be considered. Her analysis extends beyond aspects of poverty and racial isolation and raises issues that point to the lack of cultural synchronization among the many players in the drama of educational reform. For example, she contends: . . . social distance arising in part from lack of common experience and knowledge of each other in people of difference class and racial backgrounds can impair communication, trust, and joint action between reformers and school personnel, can foster an incompetence that arises in part from this lack of knowledge, and can hamper the implementation of educational improvement projects. (p. 23) Unfortunately, Anyon does not fully buttress this conclusion with strong supporting materials but attempts to address the issues in an almost apologetic manner. First, she describes the organizational structure of the Newark reform efforts and the principal characters involved at the macrolevel: the board of education. She seems to suggest that more could have been achieved in this majority-Black city particularly because most of the major players at the level of city government and the board of education were African American and Latino. She then ascribes their failure to effect positive changes and bring about the needed reform to the possibility of their displaying a subservient mentality. She falls to discuss the real possibility that the persons visibly in control of such reforms may have been acting out of a perceived need to satisfy those who were actually in control of the project. Indeed, such an explanation seems more plausible than Anyon's social distance argument and is even supported by a White learning disabilities specialist assigned to the research site. …

Estrategias de manejo en torno al VIH/SIDA a nivel familiar

To identify the critical points of the trajectories of the families of persons with AIDS which may serve as a basis to develop educational and support programs. A qualitative investigation was conducted in 1995 in Ciudad Netzahualcóyotl, State of Mexico, Mexico. Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP) were applied to determine the social, economic, demographic and cultural context of persons with HIV/AIDS in the community. Forty-six in-depth interviews were applied to persons with AIDS, their families and people from their social networks. The main aspects of the family response to the HIV/ AIDS are characterized, and it is demonstrated that it is possible to identify critical points in such a response which can be targeted through specific interventions. In Ciudad Netzahualcóyotl, a context of poverty, a migrating tradition, and gender social relations are the basis of the acceptance or rejection of persons with AIDS. The main finding refers to the ambiguos attitude, ranging from rejection to support, displayed by family members of persons with AIDS. This pattern varies according to the history and specific conditions of each family. Specific health interventions are proposed to support families with one or more persons with AIDS.

Maternal sensitivity in a developing society: the context of urban poverty and infant chronic undernutrition.

This study focuses on young children's chronic undernutrition and its association with maternal sensitivity, sociodemographic variables, children's play, and problem-solving measures. Data were obtained with home observations and laboratory procedures on 85 mothers and infants (M age = 18 months) in a low-income urban population in Santiago, Chile. Maternal sensitivity was correlated with maternal education, maternal weight, and marital satisfaction. Observed in a variety of maternal roles, maternal sensitivity was also significantly associated with children's nutritional status, attachment security, and mastery behavior. These findings demonstrate the relevance of the maternal sensitivity construct outside industrialized societies and underline the need for intervention strategies to extend beyond nutritional supplementation to address deficits of maternal care associated with specific caregiver's roles.

Resources and Population: Natural, Institutional, and Demographic Dimensions of Development.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the world's population has increased threefold. The revolution has not only changed the size of the population; it is radically transforming its age structure and its spatial distribution, with attendant problems and contradictions. Despite measurable advances in human welfare, such as increased longevity, more than one billion people - about one third of the total population of the Third World - live in poverty, according to a recent World Bank report. Sharply diverging rates of population growth have been accompanied by increasing disparities in income and quality of life across nations. These papers examine the relationship between physical and human resources and population within this context of mass poverty, historically unprecedented population growth, and environmental deterioration. Attention focused on those resources most critical for human well-being, including soil, water, and energy, on the one hand, and education, social organization and economic management, on the other. The discussion is framed by a broad supervision into six parts, examining demographic history and global population prospects; the relationships between population and physical, biological, and human resources; human health; and human settlements. Introductory statements, including an address by Pope John Paul II, and concluding remarks draw out the common threads and point the way towards future action and research. This book originated in a study week organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to bring the best available scientific evidence to bear on this complex and still inadequately explored topic. The study week brought together experts in demography and from the physical, biological, political, economic, anthropological, religious, cultural, and health sciences, to investigate past experience and observed trends. Through this multidisciplinary analysis, a reference base was assembled that is factual, amply documented, and as scientifically indisputable as possible.

The Impact and Implications of HIV on Children and Adolescents

Abstract This overview of the impact of AIDS on children recognizes the major issues that need to be addressed in order to prevent, alleviate the pain of, and bring about a cure for HIV/AIDS. The review is organized around the epidemiology of the disease in children and youth, women and AIDS, special concerns for adolescents and young adults, prevention and education, treatment issues, public policy, research, the need for social action, and as an all-pervasive concern and goal, the achievement of social justice as an integral part of conquering HIV disease. As indicated in the Introduction, HIV/AIDS occurs in a social and economic context of poverty and oppression, and, thus, must be understood from this perspective.

Le complexe “malnutrition-infection” : premier problème de santé publique chez les populations défavorisées

The synergistic association between malnutrition and infection remains today the most worrisome public health problem in the world. Although the high level of mortality among children in developing countries is mainly due to infectious and parasitic diseases, more than half of these children die in a state of overt undernourishment. Energy and nutrient deficiencies adversely affect various aspects of immunocompetence, thus malnourished people are particularly sensitive to many opportunistic infections. These, in turn, induce anorexia, various metabolic changes and malabsorption, which affect nutritional reserves, and lead to malnutrition if prolonged. In the absence of efficient measures to break this vicious cycle, malnutrition and morbidity lead to high levels of mortality. Experience from developing countries suggests that to improve the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in such a context of poverty, one need to take into account simultaneously the basic environment of underprivileged groups and their dietary intake as well as their level of access to health care services.

Negotiating Illness: Disability Grants and the Treatment of Epilepsy

Research in a South African clinic setting shows that epilepsy and noncompliance are viewed as means for attaining disability grants by both patient and doctor. Interviews with 42 patients and a number of health care personnel were carried out at the Grahamstown Day Hospital in 1990 to explore the effect of epilepsy and its treatment on the lives of patients. The focus of patients on disability grants must be viewed within the context of poverty and high rates of unemployment characteristic of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, as well as the nature of health care delivery and the welfare bureaucracy. Analysis drawing on the concept of metaphor shows that concentration on the question of disability grants takes precedence over the issues of disease and therapy. From the perspective of health care personnel, drug compliance becomes equated with moral worth.

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND BIOTECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS

This paper assesses the role of Biotechnology Development Agreements (BDAs) in creating incentives to conserve biodiversity. A major cause of species loss is the conversion of tropical forests to crop and pasture land. Biodiversity conservation, therefore, fundamentally depends on the economics of agricultural land use in developing countries. BDAs can play only a limited role in a comprehensive strategy to increase incentives for biodiversity conservation. Policymakers must examine biodiversity policies in the broader context of land tenure, rural poverty, and agricultural development in tropical countries.

The Mismeasure of Women

The subtitle of this elegant book, Why women are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex, instantly conveys its major themes and main message. While Carol Tavris would like to eschew all oversimplified dichotomies, including the maximalist/minimalist differences controversy (p. 288) that divides the feminist community, she takes the firm position that the psychosocial political context is the most powerful, albeit not the only, explanation for the behavior of both women and men. It is the context of oppression, poverty, and multiple frustrations, rather than female hormones, she suggests, that explains the higher rates of depression among women--although she even questions the actuality of such differences, given men's own different style of expressing despair. It is power imbalance, rather than women's natural speaking styles, that creates the popular two-cultures theory of miscommunication (p. 297). She insists that differences between moral reasoning, the need for love and attachement, the need for achievement, capacity for empathy or pacifist leanings are trivial at best, while the true differences lie in the division of labor at home and in the workplace, in the different ways that universal emotions are allowed to be expressed by each gender, and in the different gendered life stories that our culture offers women and men for making meaning out of their life experiences.The second organizing thread of The Mismeasure of Women is Tavris's ever-present voice, arguing her positions carefully and convincingly, leaning on a large body of empirical research, and taking clear and open sides on every issue. The author addresses many of the myths that have shaped the post-Freudian psychology of women, and comes down equally hard on myths of denigration as on myths of glorification, confronting them without asperity, yet with forthrightness and courage, at the risk of stepping on many feminist political toes. Tavris is concerned that cultural feminists' and other feminist movements' emphasis on differences even when they entail female superiority, ends up with a focus on human nature rather than on sociopolitical power arrangements. Concerned with the admittedly thorny issue of the sexual survivor syndrome that has been taken up with such enthusiasm by many powerless women caught in bad relationships Tavris asks: How does a woman come to focus exclusively on past sexual abuse as the major reason for her unhappiness, when many other current factors are often involved as well (p. 316) and she wonders about the wisdom and usefulness, for women, of adopting victim identities. …

Barriers to Solutions: Service Delivery and Public Policy in Rural Areas

Improvements in individual and community resources are complicated by inadequate rural public policy and increasing difficulties in the delivery of services, including health care. This article examines rural service delivery, particularly the delivery of health care, and public policy issues in the context of persistent rural poverty. Barriers, including those at both individual and community levels, are discussed as well as artificial barriers that professionals may impose as they work to improve the life status of older rural adults. Initiatives currently underway for the improvement of rural service delivery and issues regarding the development and implementation ofpublic policy responsive to rural areas also are discussed. Recommendations forfuture service delivery in and public policy for rural areas are noted. Central to this discussion is the recognition that any attempt to improve the quality of life for older adults m rural areas, particularly when applied to the reduction of current financial distress, will be developed and implemented during times of increased program and employee accountability at all levels.

The Environmental Context of Poverty Among Older Residents of Economically Endangered Kansas Towns

This article reports results of a field study of the impact of acute and chronic economic stressors on elderly residents of four economically threatened small towns in Kansas. Guided by a conceptual model of environmental stress, risks and benefits associated with everyday life m these towns for older residents are explored for four issues: health risks, the health/housing dialectic, maintaining psychological control, and risks to community identity. Psychological and behavioral strategies employed by older residents as well as communities to deal with changes in these areas are illustrated. It is suggested that community intervention models (e.g., community development, empowerment, triage, or hospice) attempting to stabilize, rejuvenate, or resurrect economically endangered towns must consider a variety of context-specific needs and resources within and between communities. Recommendations for intervention are offeredfor rural practitioners (health professionals, community planners, housing experts) and policymakers.

Persistent Elderly Poverty in Rural Appalachia

This article focuses on the persistence of poverty among the elderly of rural Appalachia. A case study of current poverty levels in the 49 counties of Appalachian eastern Kentucky indicates continutng high levels of poverty, particularly among elderly women, in an environment characterized by limited resources. Demographic and economic change within the region threaten the continuing existence of traditional social and cultural buffers that, historically, have ameliorated the worst effects of poverty Such buffers include informal support systems and an egalitarian community ideology As the economic, social, and cultural context of poverty in the region changes due to increased integration in a national economic system and society, there is a need for a "new vision" that will provide a culturally appropriate, locally based, response to the structural conditions that perpetuate poverty among the elderly.