Expert: Gorkey Gourab - 9/29/2010

Question
Why would an anthropologist be interested in the issue of poverty and the debates surrounding it? How would they approach the issue, and what further information might they want to explore? Also, please if possible connect to a specific school of thought within the disciplines for example cultural materialism, functionalism, etc

Answer
Hello Shiraz,

Welcome to AllExperts and thank you for asking the question. Let us proceed in a Q&A form:

Q: Why would an anthropologist be interested in the issue of poverty and the debates surrounding it?
A: Anthropology is unique since it welcomes thoughts/theories from other disciplines, it admits "multiple realities", and tries to offer context sensitive recommendations. As from my limited understanding, this is the reason, Anthropologists become interested in poverty and debates surrounding it: to understand, to explore contextual data, analyze/interpret, and generate theories/offer contextual recommendations and beyond.

For example: in a very simple language poverty is defined as an inability to meet basic needs because of lack of resources. Anthropologists may take the opportunity to move beyond this. To show that poverty is perceived as “pain” and it affects one’s “dignity”, leads to collective “demoralization” and thus the concept of poverty is much broader than its "traditional and well accepted definition" and contextual issues can appear as a concern for 'social Isolation' in one hand and barrier to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the other.

Or, Anthropologists can show that donors’ and perceptions of poverty and recommendations cannot be universal.

Q: How would they approach the issue? ... and what further information might they want to explore? Also, please if possible connect to a specific school of thought within the disciplines for example cultural materialism, functionalism, etc
A: Approaching an issue from Anthropological depends on what issue we are approaching.  It is not necessary that an Anthropologist should follow a specific school of thought to approach an issue. Rather, they can go for exploring the issue in the framework of grounded theory. Sticking to a specific school of thought, as I understand, narrows down our sight since we basically tend to believe that a specific school of thought might be appropriate for approaching an issue (that in terns mean, we are already preoccupied with certain theoretical framework and we will tend to explore only those areas those fit the school of thought).

It would be better for us to continue this discussion and have a better understanding if you please come up with an issue and then we can proceed further.

Sorry for my delayed response.

Regards,
Gorkey