Extremes Of Poverty Research Articles

Window Dressing in Stoneybatter: Net Curtains, Parlour Rooms and Changing Demographics in an Urban Village

This paper will examine patterns and trends in domestic window dressing in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin with particular reference to the terraced houses built by the Dublin Artisan’s Dwelling Company (D.A.D.C.) between 1890 and 1900. The tradition of adorning and embellishing the windows of these small homes reveals much about notions of respectability, taste and class in this changing and increasingly gentrified community. Traditionally ornaments, souvenirs, plants and miscellaneous bric-a-brac were placed in front windows, positioned in such a way to face the passer-by, and these were generally framed by patterned net curtains. Gentrification and shifting demographic patterns mean that the generations of skilled artisans and those employed by large local institutions (the Guinness Brewery, military and medical institutions) have been replaced by a diverse range of people whose tastes and treatment of their homes differs to their predecessors. This window-dressing, whilst not a uniquely Irish or Dublin phenomenon, is a type of self-expression and creativity which has received little attention within the Irish context and especially within the urban setting. A review of the historiography of Dublin reveals that until recent years there was a focus upon the extremes of poverty and wealth, and that design history has not sufficiently addressed the tastes of stable, working communities such as those resident in the Stoneybatter area.

Cultivating new post-secular political space

The emergence of post-secular new political space is increasingly recognised as both urgent challenge and beckoning opportunity for innovative political intervention. The concept is framed around three defining characteristics. Firstly, it refers to socio-economic space vacated by government and demarcated by extremes of poverty and marginalisation requiring mitigation by charities, faith communities and the like. Secondly, it is evidenced in local contexts by an obvious lack of social mobility and blatant discrepancies in income, educational outcomes and life expectancy. Thirdly, it is ontological space. Arguably for the first time in a generation, the deep political structures are accessible to recognition and transformation. Fourthly, it is European space exemplified by the increasing challenge to the post-war European project and the burgeoning nationalism and xenophobia exacerbated at least in part by the influx of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants. This special issue of Global Discourse assembles six articles and responses emanating from a desire to cultivate and not colonise this emerging space for overall well-being.

Addressing Extremes of Poverty and Wealth: A Spiritual Challengea

The world today is characterised by a wide divide between the rich and the poor. On the one hand about half the world’s population (three billion people) live on less than $2.50 a day, with one bil...

Hard Times: The Growth of an ‘Avoidant’ Culture

SYNOPSISThis paper explores how we might situate our understanding of early psychological development within the economic and political culture in which we live. How has an increasingly harsh and polarized political economy affected our emotional and relational ‘structures of feeling’? Drawing on attachment theory, the paper argues that both extremes of poverty and wealth tend to lead to insensitive and authoritarian parenting practices which promote an avoidant style of emotional regulation. The more dominant this becomes, the more it supports policies based on individualism and self-sufficiency, and leads to instrumental values within our social institutions.

The Personal Is the International: For Black Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn't Enough

The article reflects on why I opted for Political Science as my career. It tells of a society where once black women could only imagine themselves either as maids, teachers or nurses—this was my mother's world. The narrative shows how a racialised and gendered history shapes both my hopes for a particular kind of international relations theory and practice, as it shapes my frustrations and anxieties about my own future in the discipline. I also locate my place in the discipline within broader global ‘disruptions’ that see previously marginalised actors moving to the centre of international life. I also attempt to demonstrate that international relations today is located in globalised peace but within localised extremes of poverty and privilege. I make the case that the challenge to International Relations (IR) theory today is to find a language, a new language, in which to articulate the contradictions of a globalised peace that exists within localised extremes of poverty and privilege.

Urban Regeneration, Digital Development Strategies and the Knowledge Economy: Manchester Case Study

In the late twentieth century, cities like Manchester, seen as the ‘original, modern’ [1] world industrial city, faced serious challenges in terms of how to respond to the massive economic restructuring that was taking place. On the one hand, Manchester needed to respond to the highest rates of unemployment and social exclusion seen for more than 50 years, whilst, at the same time, the city wanted to develop innovative and practical solutions which could bring real economic and social benefits to local people. The impact of even more rapid technological change, referred to as the emerging ‘information society’, which started to impact from the 1980s onwards, exacerbated this dilemma, accelerating the process of restructuring so that within urban areas new economic growth increasingly sat side by side with extremes of poverty, unemployment and other forms of social exclusion. This case study looks at the ways that Manchester, and key players from the city region, including the public sector, business, education and the community sector, responded to this and how those responses over the past 25+ years created new ambitions and aspirations for the city and its citizens. The conclusions focus on the concept of the ‘Smart City’ and Manchester’s ideas on creating a more inclusive, creative and sustainable city, including through the imaginative use of digital technologies, applications and services, and a commitment to open innovation and the co-production of new and innovative services.

A Land and a People of Extremes – Ireland and the Irish in German Cinema

Irish film history has often been seen as a pragmatic “creative bricolage” that draws almost exclusively on images of Ireland and Irishness that have emanated from the cinema industries of the USA and the United Kingdom. Yet, Ireland has also featured in the film industries of other non-Anglophone countries and the images produced in these contexts also represent an element within the vast and extensive archive of Irish filmic images. This article writes the first chapter in the expansion of Irish film history by examining the depiction of Ireland and Irishness in German film. Ireland and the Irish, not unlike the Anglo-American gaze, are depicted as a people and a land of extremes marked by an intensity of emotion, nationalism, Catholicism and alcohol, while extremes of poverty and wild untameable landscapes also feature prominently.

Who Said the Cold War is Over? The political economy of strategic conflict between Venezuela and Colombia

The occasionally dangerous rivalry between Colombia and Venezuela can best be explained by the distinct developmental paths each has pursued since independence. Significant factors include the array of productive forces in each country (eg oil in Venezuela versus illicit drugs in Colombia), the role of geographical features in relation to social forces and state structure, the extent of institutionalised conflict-resolution mechanisms, and the localised effects of a changing world order. The epistemological aspect is key here, since both countries have strived in vain to achieve a modernist project, one that includes a stable state complete with the development of a sizeable middle class rather than populous extremes of poverty and extraordinary wealth, and the embrace of the nation-state as well as the cultivation of patriotism as the exclusive focus for political space and political identity. They have relied on an epistemic framework that emphasises binary thinking, zero-sum competition and absolutist conceptions of human nature upon which to construct political regimes. At either extreme of this 180 degree ideological spectrum the ideological battles between Colombia and Venezuela are the epitome of the infamous ‘storms in a children's paddling pool’ observed by Foucault in The Order of Things.

Global Theme Issue: Poverty and Human Development The effect of poverty on access to oral health care in Nigeria

Nigeria is a country with a population of over 140 million people (1). Over 60% of Nigerians live in rural areas. Poverty is especially severe in rural areas where social services and infrastructure are limited or non existent. Africa is the continent where the poorest people in the world live. Nigeria is the most populous black African country where about 70% of the population live under one dollar per day (2). Nigeria has been classified as a poor nation. In Nigeria, majority of those living in rural areas are poor and depend on agriculture for food and income. Small scale farmers who cultivate tiny plots of land and depend on rainfall rather than irrigation system produce about 90% of the country\'s food. Women play a major role in the production, processing and marketing of food crops. The poorest group go on subsistence living but are often short of food, particularly during the pre-harvest period. Many poor Nigerians suffer from malnutrition and other diseases related to poor nutrition such as acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG) and cancrum oris (3-6). The HIV/AIDS pandemic has also taken a heavy toll on the rural population and could be considered an emerging public health problem. The extremes of poverty in Nigeria are outrageous. The outrage is not just that avoidable deprivation, suffering and death are intolerable; it is also that these situations coexist with affluence. Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and this has impoverished the nation. Intergenerational poverty exists in the country. Fight against poverty is necessary to reduce intergenerational transfer of poverty in Nigeria because most Nigerian children are born into poverty. The oral health status of underprivileged Nigerians is generally poor. Many Nigerians suffer from oral diseases such as caries, fracture teeth, gingivitis, periodontitis, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis, cancrum oris, malocclusion, tumours and other dental problems (7-15). Non availability of National data on the prevalence of common oral diseases among Nigerians is a major problem and poses a great challenge to the Nigerian Dental Association whose members are major stakeholders regarding oral health care delivery system in the country. Lack of national data has affected planning meaningful oral health care for Nigerians. This paper identified the barriers to access oral health care and stress the various strategies by which the Nigerian Dental Association and all stakeholders could assist the Federal Government of Nigeria to overcome these barriers and formulate policies that will prevent oral disease and move the nation forward to achieve the millennium development goal. Nigerian Dental Journal Vol. 16 (1) 2008: pp. 40-42

Gender, Trade Liberalization and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy: Challenges and Options for Civil Society

The Current Conjuncture: In Summary Form A brief overview of some of important features of current conjuncture which demonstrates interconnectedness between global and hemispheric trade regimes, evolving CARICOM Single Market and Economy and gendered realities of women and men, is a useful way to begin this discussion. During 1980s, overall economic policy environment Caribbean was characterized by economic reforms which moved through stabilization to structural adjustment The IDB (1998:1) notes that in countries such as Jamaica and Guyana, acute economic situation required comprehensive adjustment strategies which involved harsh austerity measures, supported by loans from IMF and World Bank. Other countries such as Grenada and Suriname, designed their own home grown adjustment early 199Os, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago were pursuing various types of structural adjustment programmes. The Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) undertaken region included trade liberalization, tax reform, privatization, reduced government involvement economic activities, as well as reduced budgetary support for critical social services and infrastructure. As globalization process intensified, and global trade policy was increasingly determined by a complex of multilateral trade agreements, room for Caribbean countries to manoeuvre policy options was increasingly restricted. By 1992, countries of Caribbean Basin had already taken first step towards free trade by signing Framework Agreements on Trade and Investment, with United States. The groundwork for this step had already been prepared, as many countries had begun a process of trade liberalization mid to late 1980s largely as part of policy conditionalities linked to structural adjustment agreements with multilateral agencies such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund. (Wedderburn 1998: 24). The economic reform process with trade liberalization as a major focus, proceeded more rapidly, more comprehensively under WTO after 1995. With limited policy options, limited resource base and productive capacity, small size and, some cases, a debt burden, among other problems, Caribbean nations saw a trade and investment agreement with United States as an attractive option. Any other option, as attempted even tentatively by Jamaica, Grenada and Guyana, was viewed with much disquiet and suspicion by United States, major trading and donor partner of several CARICOM countries. In 1995, against this background, CARICOM governments like most others of world, signed on to Beijing Platform of Action. With this act, they committed to improving conditions of life and opportunities for women several specific areas. Some are relevant to multilateral and regional trading agreements. Specifically, paragraph 165 (k) reads: the governments: seek to ensure that national policies related to international and regional trade agreements do not have an adverse impact on women's new and traditional activities. Ten years later, there is a growing recognition that little progress has been made most countries towards fulfilling these commitments. Instead, extremes of poverty and wealth are now more evident. In CARICOM countries, fiscal policy as part of economic reforms impacted social policy, and resulting redistribution of budgetary resources associated with these reforms seriously affected resources available for health, education and critical subsidies for various social Given socially defined roles of women, they ended up being 'de facto' providers of those social services no longer supplied by public sector. More recently, 2000, governments of world adopted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals are being used as an important instrument for guiding policy Caribbean towards achievement of a number of specific goals and targets. …

Inquiry and Activism in Law and Society

Two events in the past twelve months have made me think about the law and society field and activism—two events and many years of telling myself that our field is about more than research.

Health care systems in transition III. India, Part I. The Indian experience.

Indian society is distinguished by marked cultural pluralism and a relatively young population that in 1999 has grown to one billion. Its regional and economic diversity and complex social structure and extremes of poverty and wealth make planning a challenging task. Developing economic self-reliance tackling poverty and building a strong welfare state were major commitments of the newly independent India. After 1949 a conscious effort was made to invest in education and health services. Constitutionally health services were the responsibility of the provincial states. The role of central government was to define policies provide a national strategic framework financial resources and specified services such as services for people crossing international borders and medical education. In the 26 States and two Union Territories districts were the operative units wherein the population of about 1.3-1.5 million was served by a network of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and sub-centres organized as a pyramid with the district hospital at the apex. Health sector planning had two major thrusts: the first to build an infrastructure to provide basic medical care maternal and child health (MCH) services health information education and referral services; and the second to develop specific national health programmes to control communicable diseases provide family planning services (FPSs) and control severe forms of nutritional deficiencies. To carry out these tasks a support system had been developed which included education and training research health information and monitoring drug and equipment production etc. (excerpt)

WATER‐BLOOMS

Summary1. Peculiarities in the ecology of planktonic blue‐green algae are reviewed in relation to recent advances in understanding their physiological characteristics.2. Dense water‐blooms are always the result of buoyant migration of existing populations to the lake surface under calm weather conditions. The size of the population is the direct result of photoautotrophic growth, and is dependent upon light and the availability of inorganic nutrients; it is apparently enhanced by moderately high water temperatures, high pH, low oxygen tensions and possibly, the presence of organic solutes. The relative effectiveness of these factors is untested.3. Buoyancy is imparted by gas vacuoles whose principal function is to regulate the position of the alga in the water column. Control is effected by two mechanisms: (i) ‘dilution’ of newly produced vacuoles during active cell division; (ii) changes in cell turgor‐pressure acting on the gas‐vacuole structure. Gas‐vacuole production is greatest at low light intensities and the alga becomes more buoyant; at higher light intensities, increased turgor‐pressure collapses the weaker vacuoles causing the alga to lose buoyancy.4. Potentially, algae are able to poise themselves at an optimum point in the light gradient, usually towards the bottom of the euphotic zone, where the algae are likely to encounter the conditions most favouring their growth.5. Different species of blue‐green algae differ in the typical sizes of their colonies and, hence, in their rates of controlled movement. These differences are interpreted as hydrodynamic adaptations to the variations in turbulent water movements to which the algae are subject.6. Populations of single‐filamentous Oscillatoria agardhii and O. rubescens come to occupy the stable metalimnia of stratified lakes, provided that they are located within the euphotic zone.7. The large stream‐lined colonial forms occur mainly in polymictic lakes and in the unstable epilimnia of stratified lakes where light penetration is restricted to the superficial layers. These algae are adapted to sink or float rapidly to the optimum depth when turbulence subsides. Because of their potentially high rates of movement, it is the large colonial forms that commonly form blooms.8. Bloom formation can occur when most of the algae possess excess buoyancy. Excess buoyancy is acquired when the photosynthetic rate is insufficient to develop the necessary turgor‐pressure to cause collapse of the vacuoles. Photosynthesis may be sufficiently impaired under four circumstances: (i) during turbulent circulation of the population over a depth that significantly exceeds the euphotic depth; (ii) in the absence of light (e.g. at night): (iii) at limiting concentrations of carbon dioxide: and (iv) when the algal population is senescent.9. Because bloom‐formation depends upon the coincidence of persistent algal overbuoyancy with calm weather, its occurrence is incidental, and serves no vital function in the biology of blue‐green algae.10. Some possible causes for the occurrence of blue‐green algal blooms in a relatively restricted range of water bodies are discussed. Large bloom‐forming populations are probably restricted to moderately rich, mildly alkaline, thermally unstable lakes in all regions, except those which are permanently cold. Extremes of poverty or richness of nutrients, short water‐retention times and low pH seem to be factors which select against planktonic blue‐green algae.