Talking About Global Inequality: Personal Experiences and Historical Perspectives

Description

Comprising a collection of interview essays with nineteen public intellectuals and scholars from around the world, this book reflects on some of the most pressing questions of our age: what is global inequality; what causes it; and how should we deal with it? Leading figures within the fields of History, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology and Postcolonial Studies, shed light on how their personal backgrounds, places of work, and hometowns have shaped their views on global inequality. We learn about the causes of global inequality, the historical factors that have shaped the world into an unequal place, and the challenges that humanity is confronted with in the face of the widening gap between the poor and the rich. Bringing together voices from the Global North and South, this book helps us to think more broadly about inequality and deepens our understanding of how this long-lasting phenomenon is, and has been, experienced across the globe. Preface Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures Introduction: Talking About Global Inequality 1 Organization Deep Roots: Legacies of Imperialism and Colonialism Notes for a New History 1 What is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Poverty and Ideology: Historic Pathways 1 What is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality and How Do We Deal with Them? Anti-Imperialism and Digging for the Bases of Power and Privilege 1 What is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality and How Do We Deal with Them? The Colonial Matrix of Power 1 What is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Colonial Logics and the Journey from the Third World to the First, and Back Again 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Unequal Entanglements: A Capitalist World System Self-Interest and Similar Wealth Across Nations Equals World Peace 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? An Analysis Built on Global Measurement 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? How the Global Movement of Money and People Turns the World Upside Down 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? The Need to Centre Imperialism 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? The Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? The Inertia of Hierarchies: Class, Caste, Race, Gender Landscapes of Hierarchy 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Experiences of Inequality from India, a Sociobiographical View 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Writing About Poverty and Caste as a Novelist and Cultural Critic 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Reflecting on My Experiences of Gender Inequality in Kenya and South Africa 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Global Resistances and Solidarities: A View from Nepal 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Thinking Beyond Economics: The Politics of Inequalities From Chile to New York City: Systemic Corruption and Oligarchic Domination 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Making the Familiar Strange: Anthropological Reflections 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? From Buenos Aires to Belgrade 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Perspectives from the South: An Islander Woman Speaks 1 What Is Your Background and How Did You Become Interested in Global Inequality? 2 What Is Global Inequality? 3 How Have the Places in Which You Have Lived and Worked Influenced Your View on Global Inequality? 4 What Are the Main Historical Causes of Global Inequality? 5 What Are the Most Pressing Contemporary Challenges Concerning Global Inequality, and How Do We Deal with Them? Index