The Poverty Jet Set

Poverty Travel with SquatterCity

One of my favorite travel blogs Intelligent Travel just did a fantastic interview with author Robert Neuwirth. He writes SquatterCity, a blog that covers the plight of impoverished people in urban areas. He’s also coming out with a book Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, a New Urban World which “is an attempt to humanize these maligned settlements.” In the interview, they talk about how to go about visiting these parts of the city, why you should and why it’s good.

I have a special place in my heart for downtrodden urban areas of the world. Not only do I live on the fringes of some of the worst neighborhoods in my own country, but I’ve been to others in my travels around the world. They are certainly sad places to be, but important for us not to ignore. And certainly not places or people to fear. Seeing the way people live in urban poverty compared to rural poverty is always striking, and I think we can learn so much from the contrast. About the cost of globalization. About human dignity. About the true price of material wealth.

This article also brings to mind a daring documentary I saw at a couple film festivals last year, “Ghosts of Cite Soleil“. It tells the story of some of the gangs in Haiti who struggle with control and survival in the big shantytown of Port-au-Prince. Not sure if it’s been released theatrically, but when it comes out on DVD, I highly recommend it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 2:22 pm and is filed under adventure, city life, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Janelle 01/24/2008 05:41 PM 1 point
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Thanks Mark! Some of my most profound travel experiences have happened when I've stepped outside the boundaries of tourist-centric locations and interacted with the real people pushed to the outskirts of town.

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Mark 01/25/2008 09:56 AM 1 point
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You're welcome, Janelle. Most definitely. Me too. I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Mike 01/25/2008 04:47 PM 1 point
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Great stuff, Mark.

We're actually in the process of writing a series on "dark tourism" at Vagabondish. This includes so-called "poverty tourism" and the interview you mention above will provide keen insight into that very topic. Thanks for sharing.

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blackmailismylife 01/26/2008 04:34 PM 1 point
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I wouldn't want to live as close as I think you do to Finnegan's Wake. I've gotta say that 'poverty tourism' sounds like one of the most patronizing, exploitative things I can think of doing in the name of 'activism.' I mean, I'm sure it's done/said with best intentions, but it's exoticism and not much that would be identifiably 'political.'

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Mark 01/26/2008 07:28 PM 1 point
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Yeah, 'poverty tourism' doesn't exactly have a nice friendly ring to it. It reminds me of the ongoing debate about whether or not to go visit Burma. Many activists try to tell people not to go there because the money goes directly to supporting the despotic government. But does that mean you can't go and help support local economies? Or that you shouldn't go and witness the ills of that society and report back? Calling it exoticism is not really fair. I'd say going to the rain forests to find un-Westernized native tribes is worse.

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blackmailismylife 01/27/2008 03:31 PM 1 point
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Well, journalism and 'poverty tourism' are two very different things, right? As a casualty of late '90's identity politics, I find the whole notion of 'bearing witness' to be pretty insufferable and too voyeuristic to be nominally 'political.'

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John Alex Today 04:17 AM 1 point
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From my travel experience, the most interesting travel locations are not the most common ones you can find.

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1 /people/camelcase/ /people/camelcase/following/ http://www.letsbookhotel.com

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