Context Of Poverty Research Articles

The Context of Poverty and Cancer: Denying Human Potential.

Poverty is a carcinogen and a leading cause of cancer disparities and overall mortality in the United States. Poverty is often viewed as an individual failure for "being poor," but in fact, poverty is structurally driven, intergenerational, and place-based that socially deprives and denies human potential. Disparities in timely cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and survival disproportionally impact people living in poverty and especially in persistent poverty areas, an extreme form of place-based poverty that affects communities over multiple generations. There has been some progress made to address place-based conditions that exacerbate poverty, such as the NCI's initiative on persistent poverty. However, gross inequality and cancer disparities continue to exist and persist. The time is now to accelerate the development of research-informed strategies and solutions with communities along with multisectoral collaborations with education, housing, occupation/workforce, foster care, criminal justice, transportation, and data collection systems. This commentary discusses the structural, place-based, and generational context of poverty, illustrates how entrenched inequities shape poor cancer outcomes, and describes opportunities for future research.

Investigation of the impact of dual inoculations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria on drought tolerance of maize grown in a compost-amended field under Mediterranean conditions.

In the current context of rapid climate change, water scarcity and soil poverty are becoming increasingly alarming, leading to growing losses of 30-50% of global agricultural production. It is imperative to find environmentally-friendly approaches for improving plant tolerance to drastic conditions, particularly in arid and semi-arid Mediterranean regions. Biostimulants based on symbiotic microbes are emerging as effective strategies for improving tolerance and agricultural productivity. This study aims to evaluate the effects of single and double inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (My) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (Ba) on the growth, physiological and biochemical traits of maize crop grown in compost (Co) amended soil under two irrigation regimes: well-watered (WW: 100% of crop evapotranspiration [ETc]) and drought-stressed (DS: 50% ETc) using drip irrigation system. Reducing irrigation to 50% reduced shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), 1,000-grains weight (TGW) and grain yield (Y). However, Ba alone increased SDW by 63%, while CoMyBa improved RDW, TGW and Y by 197, 43 and 175%, respectively compared with the control under DS conditions. Dual inoculation boosted root colonization intensity, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), total chlorophyll and leaf area of maize seedlings in compost-amended soil, compared to the controls. The application of Ba significantly reduced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde by 46%, in maize seedlings grown in compost-amended soil, compared to the controls under DS. Our results indicated that My and Ba significantly boost the ability of maize to tolerate drought by improving water supply and physiology and stimulating the accumulation of organic and inorganic osmolytes, as well as improving the properties of soils such as cation exchange capacity particularly amended by Co. The dual inoculations were the most effective and represent an environmentally-friendly and relatively inexpensive approach to optimizing agricultural production and soil restoration programs in Mediterranean regions.

¿Puede un pescado cambiar de estatus?

This article will try to discuss the inversion of a stereotype associated with a food product - mackerel (Scomber colias) - a fish whose consumption was connoted with popular and poverty contexts, and its revitalization that has taken place especially since 2011, concomitant with the worsening of the economic crisis in Portugal. This process of revitalization and resignification, initially put into practice by renowned Portuguese chefs, also entered the lexicon and practices of nutritionists who try to promote the idea of "healthy eating". Parallel to the economic crisis, another factor contributed to the revitalization of mackerel in Portugal: the imposition of fishing quotas on sardines, a fish recognized as a symbol of national food practices, associated with summer and its festivities. This brief analysis shows us how the process of gourmetisation of mackerel took place in a very specific context - an economic crisis in Portugal - a process that, as we will try to demonstrate, did not last over time.

What If We All Appear? Audiovisual Workshop in Schools Located in the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires

Abstract The outcomes of research conducted through audiovisual workshops in two public state schools located in urban poverty contexts of the Metropolitan Region of Buenos Aires reveal the manner in which students “appear” as protagonists and narrators of lives that are typically portrayed by others. The authors’ hypothesis is that this methodological approach facilitates the inclusion of students living in impoverished contexts, providing alternative perspectives on contemporary ways of life. In this context, the authors understand inclusion as the possibility of their bodies to “appear” and the creation of an alternative narrative regarding precarious circumstances. Their bodies and narratives are often silenced, and they are usually portrayed as symbols of resilience, danger or sensationalism. Their narratives are useful to discomfort the audience about social inequalities. Within this framework, the authors demonstrate how the audiovisuals by the students offer different avenues for making a presence in the political landscape, distinct from the conventional ways in which individuals experiencing poverty and precarity are conventionally depicted.

Vulnerable and Resilient Masculinities among Schoolboys Heading Homes in South Africa

Abstract Masculinity constructions and experiences among black/African adolescent boys in Global South contexts have often been studied from a conceptual framework based on issues, vulnerabilities, and troubles in ways that obscures these boys’ resilient and agential capabilities through which they resist vulnerable masculinity. In this article, we draw upon data from qualitative interviews to explore the experiences and constructions of vulnerable and resilient masculinities among schoolboys heading child-headed homes in a poverty context in a South African township. In demonstrating how vulnerable and resilient masculinities manifest among these boys, we suggest how the emerging vulnerabilities could be addressed towards strengthening their resilience.

What frailty can tell us about ageing well: towards an alternative paradigm to 'successful ageing'.

This paper considers the concept of successful ageing by means of a dialogue with the concept of frailty. This dialogue reveals the limits and blindspots of both concepts as well as their apparent dichotomy and the importance of understanding both the objective and subjective experience of ageing. In particular, the dialogue highlights that both frailty and successful ageing are social constructs that derive their meaning from what society values (autonomy, youthful capacities). They cannot by themselves account for the fact that flourishing and frailty are often found together whilst conversely successful ageing may not bring satisfaction. I argue that the arts and humanities supply us with conceptual and methodological tools with which to revisit what it is to age well offering a holistic approach that combines sensitivity both to older people's lived experience and to the underpinning material conditions and embodied realities. For this purpose, and building on previous scholarship in cultural gerontology, I suggest the unique value of concepts and frameworks associated by Simone de Beauvoir. When brought into alignment with the tenets of cultural and narrative gerontology, these concepts facilitate a rich understanding of the nuances and paradoxes of flourishing in deep old age which can also aid in restorying both old age and the life course more generally. I illustrate this through two examples: a feminist self-help guide to ageing, which accepts both limitations and growth and a film that imagines the possibilities of authentic ageing even despite a context of poverty, patriarchy and Alzheimer's Disease.

Decontextualizing a Ban on Begging: A Multimodal Critical Analysis of Media and Political Discourse in Sweden

This article examines the representation of Romani migrants in the context of the 2016 debates to ban begging in Sweden, highlighting the ways in which media and political discourse misrepresented, simplified, or omitted the complexities surrounding this controversial policy. Drawing on Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) of media reports from two leading Swedish newspapers, this article reveals that media and political discourse often decontextualize the ban by employing three key strategies: (1) generalization and polarization, (2) victimizing the general public, and (3) concealing the historical and global context of marginalization and poverty. By portraying begging as an undignified and harmful practice, media and political discourse deflect attention away from the systemic inequalities and socio-economic conditions that lead to begging. This article argues that this decontextualization serves to legitimize and reinforce the ban on begging, creating a self-perpetuating cycle that obstructs meaningful dialogue and prevents the implementation of more effective and compassionate policy solutions that address the root causes of begging in Sweden.

Wacana Übermensch Dalam Pandangan Nietzsche Dan Peran Gereja Dalam Pengentasan Kemiskinan Di NTT

Poverty in East Nusa Tenggara is a serious problem that has been as truggle for the government, the church, and the people of NTT for years. Various ways have been taken to overcome this problem, for example the structure of society that must be changed, reducing excessive spending budgets, access roads to remote areas that must be repaired. Poverty in NTT can be overcome by building a market network. However, specifically in this paper, we will look at the potential of NTT people to be empowered to become superior human beings as Nietzsche thought. Indeed, Nietzsche’s thinking is often taken to the extreme because his critique of Christianity is hard to forgive. However, we see that behind his controversial thinking, there are positive values that we can gain and try to put into practice in the context of poverty in NTT. Therefore, it is very important for us to move away from our views that reject radically his thoughts while trying to learn critically about what is the essence of Nietzsche’s thinking and the extent to which it is relevant to the context of poverty in NTT.

A summary of initiatives to address teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools in the Anglosphere

ABSTARCT This article brings together a number of key issues that emerge in research around the problem of teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools. It offers a broad overview of the hard-to-staff schooling sector as discussed in recent academic literature and provides a context-specific overview of the literature around workforce shortages in hard-to-staff schools with relevancy for high poverty contexts. In line with Williams et al. (2022) position on “Local Strategies, Global Inspiration,” this paper focuses on the problem of teacher shortages in hard-to-staff schools in Australia while looking to both Australian and broader Anglosphere literature (p.120) to reconsider responses to teacher recruitment and retention. The paper begins with a survey of the current state of this issue of workforce shortages in hard-to-staff schools in Australia. Turning our attention to literature from both Australia and Anglosphere countries, the summary then focuses on the specific initiatives and mechanisms employed for recruiting and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools, particularly the organisational contributions of Initial Teacher Education that support recruitment into hard-to-staff schools. The article concludes by highlighting limitations and critiques of hard-to-staff initiatives in the literature to inform policy and organisational considerations when addressing the issue of teacher shortages going forward.

Survivalist Organizing in Urban Poverty Contexts

Institutional scholarship on organizing in poverty contexts has focused on the constraining nature of extant institutions and the need for external actors to make transformative change interventions to alleviate poverty. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the potentially enabling nature of extant institutions in poverty contexts. We argue that more empirical work is needed to deepen our understanding of self-organizing processes that actors embedded in such contexts generate in their own efforts to survive. Drawing on the social worlds approach to institutional analysis, we shed light on how actors self-organize to produce enduring organizational arrangements to safeguard themselves against adverse poverty outcomes. Employing data from fieldwork and interviews collected in the urban neighborhood of Dagoretti Corner in Nairobi, Kenya, we examine the colocation of 105 largely identical auto repair businesses in close spatial proximity. We find that actors leverage an indigenous institution—the societal ethos of Harambee—to enable a process we identify as “survivalist organizing.” Based on our research, we argue that survivalist organizing incorporates four interlocking survival mechanisms: cultivating interbusiness solidarity, maintaining precarious interbusiness relationships, redistributing resources to prevent business deaths, and generating collective philanthropy to avoid personal destitution. We develop a new research agenda on the institutional study of self-organizing in poverty contexts focused on strengthening rather than supplanting urbanized indigenous institutions that catalyze collective self-organizing. Funding: This work was supported by the China National Science Foundation [Grants 72091310 and 72091315].

Salud Menstrual: un análisis interseccional de los discursos producidos durante la pandemia de covid-19 en Brasil

Given the complex context of period poverty, people who menstruate throughout Brazil's territory find themselves without the minimum conditions of access and care for menstrual health. Since the field of sexual rights and reproductive rights is surrounded by tensions in the political scenario, we ask ourselves about the discourses that are produced in Brazil on menstrual health, how this reverberates in public policies and impacts the experiences of people who menstruate in the country during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. The methodological path begins with the search for official documents published by the Diário Oficial da União in Brazil (DOU) on the subject of menstrual health, with a date range between 02/26/2020 and 06/15/2021; systematization in tables of excluded and included documents; search for publications on the Scielo portal, based on the selected descriptors; survey of mobilizations around the theme based on news from online newspapers, in the defined period. As a result, we found that despite national and international considerations dealing with the importance of combating period poverty, the Brazilian government affirms a position of neglect in relation to menstrual health, following an agenda of violation of sexual and reproductive rights that becomes more evident in the pandemic period in the country. On the other hand, we analyzed the productions of feminist theorists about menstruation, in addition to the social mobilizations that were consolidated in the struggle to guarantee the right to menstrual health in this period. This concludes the importance of an intersectional analysis in the construction of public policies in a country that is historically structured in coloniality, reproducing gender, race, class and territory inequalities to non-normative bodies. The plurality of voices of people who face menstrual experiences is essential in the fight against period poverty, as well as the role of the opposition in the political scenario for the realization of rights.

“If I got it, she got it”: Black mothers' food provision and symbiotic mothering

AbstractObjectiveThis study advances contemporary theories of motherhood, mothering, and foodwork within the context of poverty by focusing on the ways that low‐income Black mothers engage interdependent culturally distinct mothering strategies in light of a porous social safety net.BackgroundContemporary standards for good parenting are increasingly resource‐based.As such, the intricate and tactical ways that low‐income Black mothers manage to make food ends meet with little means and few resources are often obscured in favor of hegemonic forms of mothering.MethodThis study draws on 44 in‐depth interviews with low‐income Black mothers and grandmothers to examine their survival strategies, focusing on food provision.ResultsFindings reveal that these mothers prioritize basic needs provision, such as food and feeding, and achieve this often difficult goal by engaging a cultural toolkit that we term symbiotic mothering. Symbiotic mothering is constructed and reinforced through the collective processes of maternal exchange, mutual aid and resource pooling, and the intergenerational and horizontal transmission of cultural knowledges, values, and practices.ConclusionsWhile there is a wealth of scholarship interrogating the ways Black women deviate from dominant mothering expectations, symbiotic mothering highlights the unique cultural skillsets these mothers actively engage to meet the everyday demands of mothering, particularly related to food provision.

Gender Differences in the use of Social Capital for Entrepreneurial Activity Within Contexts of Poverty

Abstract Previous research has pointed to differences in the use of social capital between male and female entrepreneurs that may explain, in part, the different outcomes they obtain. Adopting a gender perspective, this study analyses whether these differences depend on the contextual configurations in which their businesses operate, specifically the degree of hostility of the context and their household structure. Thirty male and female entrepreneurs who set up their businesses in poor neighbourhoods in and around the city of Guayaquil (Ecuador) were interviewed. Data was analysed using content analysis and comparative qualitative fuzzy set analysis. The results show that women rely on bridging and bonding social capital for favourable entrepreneurial outcomes, while men rely mainly on bonding social capital, with the structure of the household being one of the influences that condition whether or not they go outside their immediate environment to mobilise resources. This work contributes to a better understanding of how the relational behaviour of male and female entrepreneurs is conditioned by gender and context. These results differ from those obtained in previous research focusing more on developed countries and suggest that gender differences in social capital are at least partly explained by the contextual configurations in which entrepreneurs find themselves, and especially by the needs and agency space available to them, rather than by the faithful reproduction of gender roles and the behavioural patterns derived from them.

Re-imagining and repositioning the lived experience of children seen as outsiders in Kenya

This paper explores the contested identity and belonging for outsider-children in Kenya. I explore the experience of children born out of marriage, those from other unions, the emergent insider-outsider child and children labouring to belong. Locating this experience in a relatively protective customary and legal regime, the context of poverty and the local imaginaries of belonging reveals the complexities that animate children’s lives. I argue that children’s best interests as embedded in law, should enter into conversation with children’s lived realities.

The challenge of youth unemployment in Nigeria

AbstractNigeria is home to a significant and growing “youth” population, over a third of it below 24 years of age. The demographic potential for productivity and growth this group represents occurs alongside large-scale unemployment among young people of working age. The “unemployment crisis” has deep historical roots and exists within a wider context of poor governance, insecurity, conflict, and poverty. Policy norms and practices to address youth unemployment in Nigeria largely centre on skill development and job creation, with complementary schemes selectively targeted to specific groups of vulnerable and poor individuals. Measures are typically ad hoc, detached from a coherent programme of sustainable reform. Pre-existing structural factors and capacity constraints also shape the effectiveness of these programmes. While a productivist focus within current policy is potentially empowering in giving young Nigerians “worker” status, it also detracts from attending to deep-rooted structural problems seen to affect young people in disproportionate ways. Securing meaningful choices and lives for Nigerian youth requires reframing youth unemployment beyond labour markets alone, and embedded in ideas of equality and collective action.

Emotional distress and self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic in women from an indigenous migrant cultural collective in Mexico City

Introduction. During the coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) pandemic, restrictive measures were implemented to reduce contagion. However, severely decreasing social interaction also negatively impacted the economy, particularly that of indigenous groups. Objective. This article seeks to understand the emotional distress identified by a group of indigenous women residents, as well as their self-care practices, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico City. Method. A digital qualitative study was undertaken since the fieldwork was conducted in person and online, using various Internet platforms, which served as a field scenario, data collection tool and a means of continuous connection with subjects. Results. Anecdotal records were obtained from the subjects, who identified categorizations in the collective organization of the indigenous group, which became a support network for mobilizing official material resources. Information was also obtained on the way the women engaged in the self-care of their emotional distress in a range of ways with a sense of immediacy, through physical, spiritual, herbal, and psychological resources. They observed how women managed to cope with their situation and continue caring for and supporting their families to enable them to get by, distinguishing between those who were providers and those who were dependent on another provider. Discussion and conclusion. The pandemic, together with social restrictions, created stressful situations, causing various emotional problems among the indigenous collective. Nevertheless, their capacity for self-management and self-care enabled them to cope with these conditions in the midst of structural contexts of violence, poverty, and social exclusion.

Poverty metaphors: An autoethnography in three parts

This autoethnography seeks to open up for re-interpretation and debate three topics that feature within social work practice, research, and education: firstly the value and use of metaphor in understanding practice, secondly approaches to social work reflective writing, and thirdly the issue of poverty and its significance and impact in child and family social work. Metaphors can be valuable in framing understanding of issues within social work practice and advocating for change. Three metaphors have been particularly used in understanding the relationship between social work practice and poverty: The Invisibility of Poverty, The Elephant in the Room, and The Wallpaper of Practice. The three Parts of this autoethnography each adopt a different approach to autoethnographic writing and addresses and unsettles one of these metaphors. The first part adopts a narrative-reflective-analytical approach conventional to reflective writing in social work. The second and third parts adopt poetic and post-humanist approaches, respectively. It is proposed that adopting autoethnography as a methodology challenges the uncritical application of metaphor to situated practice and thereby prevents interpretive foreclosure. ‘Writing against’ objectified social work knowledge may assist in opening up practice to more challenging critical reflection and re-interpretation. Juxtaposing these three parts demonstrates the potential of non-conventional autoethnographic approaches to provide opportunities for deeper reflection on the experiences of doing social work within the context of poverty than conventional approaches to reflective writing. Furthermore, they indicate a need to reconsider how well these metaphors reflect social work practice experience with poverty.

“We are everyone's ASHAs but who's there for us?” a qualitative exploration of perceptions of work stress and coping among rural frontline workers in Madhya Pradesh, India

ObjectiveMore than a million female village-level lay providers called ‘Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs)’, who deliver primary care, face high levels of stress due to work demands and low compensation, within the context of poverty and gender inequality. Evidence on ASHAs has focused on workplace challenges from a system perspective, without sufficient probing into individual-level stress. This study aims to gain perspectives into the experiences of work stress, the related health symptoms, and the responses to stress among ASHAs in India. MethodsFocus group discussions (FGDs) conducted with ASHAs in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, were audio-recorded and transcribed. Grounded theory was used to generate themes under the various domains of ASHAs’ work and domestic life. We identified pathways between the conditions that trigger stressful events, experiences of these events, resulting perceptions, effects on health and wellbeing, and approaches used by ASHAs to respond to stress. ResultsSix FGDs with 59 ASHAs generated the following themes: (a) Facility: Workload, undue pressures, unstructured work; ASHAs’ relationships with seniors (e.g., feelings of being disrespected, blamed, or targeted), and low access to physical and administrative resources; (b) Home: Feelings of guilt for putting less time for family/child care; disrespect by the elderly for a poorly incentivised job; (c) Community: Low acceptance by the villagers; caste- and gender-bias; difficult community-level relationships (emotional labour, fear/stigma towards her services); (d) Somatic and psychological symptoms: headache, exhaustion, depressive symptoms (to cite a few); and (e) Responses to stress: Motivation (support from peers, family, a sense of identity/pride, incentives), Individual strengths (e.g., social responsibility), and spiritual recourse mechanisms. ConclusionsThis study will inform the development of a strengths-based coaching intervention to address work stress among ASHAs. The findings are relevant to building the evidence on alleviation of work stress among female frontline cadres in low-resource settings globally.

Ubóstwo w neoliberalnej opowieści podręcznika językowego

This article presents the results of the critical analysis of English language textbooks. The research was focused on the textbook images of poverty to show possible contributions of educational materials to promoting a neoliberal system. The research methodology was based on content analysis realized with ATLAS.ti 7 qualitative data coding program, and Critical Discourse Analysis allowing for the analysis of discursive strategies at thematic, grammatical, lexical, and compositional levels. The analysis of the texts showed clear tendencies regarding the presentation of the problem of poverty, with privatizing responsibility for its causes and effects, marginalizing systemic solutions, a high degree of generality, objectifying people affected by poverty and presenting the issue in an optimistic light. The textbook message fits into the neoliberal story of equal opportunities for every human being, at the same time trivializing the analyzed problem and limiting the possibility of reflection on the systemic contexts of poverty.

How and When Does Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurship Happen in Poverty Contexts? The Case of Kenya

How and When Does Growth-Oriented Entrepreneurship Happen in Poverty Contexts? The Case of Kenya