The GlobalPOV Project combines critical social theory, improvised art and digital media to explore innovative ways of thinking about poverty, inequality and undertaking poverty action.
Developed at the University of California, Berkeley by professor Ananya Roy, the project is currently hosted by the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin. The ambition of the project is to transform undergraduate education in ways that challenge mainstream understandings of poverty and inequality towards more critical, self-reflexive engagement that includes unpacking notions of wealth, privilege, and power.
The GlobalPov Project contains a series of nine educational videos that problematize different aspects of our understandings of and engagements with poverty and inequality. Each video discusses a specific question, such as: Can we shop to end poverty? Is privilege poverty? Who profits from poverty? or Who sees poverty?
The GlobalPOV Project represents an example of a critically informed and artistically involving attempt to discuss and examine structural causes of global issues, such as poverty and inequality. The project should be of relevance to those interested in exploring the discourse of poverty (who are the “we” that see poverty, who is considered poor by whom, what is poverty, why poverty exists and how do we contribute to it) and proposed solutions to end poverty (campaigns, donations, fair trade, ethical consumerism etc.).
These resources can help build compelling arguments for a need to address structural causes of poverty and inequality (through, among other things, policy changes), as well as to introduce critical reflections on these subjects to new audiences. It can also be used as an example of the value of working together with artists on GCE topics in ways that can help make complex issues more accessible to broader audiences.