The relationship between poverty and prosperity: a feminist relational account

Department of Politics and Public Administration Seminar
Wednesday October 20, 2.15pm

The relationship between poverty and prosperity: a feminist relational account

Susan P. Murphy (Trinity College, Dublin)

Abstract: This paper critically examines contemporary mainstream development assumptions concerning the relationship between poverty and prosperity. It examines dominant mainstream conceptualisations which underpin the policies and practices of poverty alleviation within international development institutions. It argues that when prosperity is understood as a condition of independence actualised through processes of maximum extraction, exploitation, and accumulation, the persistence of poverty and continued exploitation of social and natural systems seems inevitable. Drawing on a feminist relational approach, it reveals how the processes of defining and measuring both concepts as discrete conditions, binary opposites on a development spectrum is problematic. Firstly, these mask the relational nature of poverty and prosperity whereby the pursuit of prosperity in global capitalist systems drives the production of poverty across spaces and places. Secondly, it ignores the embeddedness and interdependence of human beings for existence, survival, and well-being. Both of these factors require consideration in the pursuit of sustainable solutions to poverty alleviation. 

Dr Susan P. Murphy is Assistant Professor in Development Practice in the Department of Geography, School of Natural Sciences, at Trinity College Dublin. Email: Susan.p.murphy@tcd.ie

All welcome!

To join the seminar: Click here to join the meeting