Summary Of Diana George Changing The Face Of Poverty

In Ruby Payne's “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” she endeavors to provide educators with strategies to teach children from poor families, but Ruby Payne went wrong when she just took a mental image from a classroom and began analyzing on what she saw without enough evidence, her principal message was that poverty is not simply a monetary condition. She describes it to her audiences as a culture with particular rules, values, and knowledge transmitted from one generation to the next.

In Diana Georges “Changing the Face of Poverty”, she uses various examples of ads, brands, and organizations  to show that the way poverty is portrayed has corrupted the understanding Americans have on poverty and what it really is. I agree with Diana George’s statement that the impression of poverty through visual imagery is distorted. Her essay examines many aspects of the misrepresentation of poverty. Society believes that they are doing more than what is actually being accomplished. The effect of her explanation allows for the audience to alter their opinion on the true image of poverty. Her use of real organizations within the community strengthens her approach.

The importance of making a change to those living in poverty is shown through the use of

In professor and editor Diana George’s article, “Changing the Face of Poverty: Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation,” published in the printed book Popular Literacy: Studies in Cultural Practices and Poetics, in 2001, she insists that representations of poverty in the media, only reveal of a small percentile of everyone impoverished, which makes them counterproductive. Opening with a brief anecdote about donation appeals made by nonprofit organizations, George directs her article towards the organizations themselves offering a suggestion to maximize the impact of their work. That suggestion is that representing poverty in a wider light, helping to display the more complex ways individuals are considered to be in poverty. The examples that George provides, become a pillar for her thesis that these current representations of poverty, while emotionally capturing, work against themselves.

Nelson Mandela, a revolutionary, advocated diligently for human rights and emphasized, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings” (Guy-Allen). He believed that poverty can be ended with humanity’s help. Poverty has been an issue for a long time, and people are going farther below the poverty line daily. There are many recent articles and conferences that discuss the causes and solutions to poverty overall. Some feel as if society is not doing enough for people in this position. Others view it as a situation that someone can get themselves out of with no extra help. But, there is a group that poverty strikes the hardest. The effects that poverty has on children is the worst. They cannot help themselves because they lack the power to do so. Therefore, it is the government’s job to make sure they are not being left behind. If they are not brought out of this, generational poverty will continue and increase the poverty rate. There should be more money put towards programs that directly aid to children in poverty because their position is holding them back from being successful.

In “Changing the Face of Poverty”, the author Diana George shows different ways poverty is advertised and displayed. She disagrees with the way poverty is addressed and visually represented, in a limited way. I agree with the way she wants people to acknowledge how poverty is being misunderstood.

Diana George’s article “Changing the Face of Poverty: Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation” focuses on the relation between the society and the issue of poverty. She starts by mentioning that a holiday was approaching, Thanksgiving, “...Thanksgiving is near.” (235) and that some nonprofit organizations will publicise ads to collect money from people. They will send ads via the mailbox and this is an effective way for them to communicate. She addresses some publications and the rise of poverty over the years. She presents the occurrence of poverty throughout the city of London and New York, including photographs that depict the disaster of the Great Depression.

To really captivate the interest of donors and spark that emotional response that will lead to action we will have a group of those who have struggled with being homeless in the winter months of New England tell their stories to donors. As previously noted women give causes that support women. We will focus on the stories of young mothers and young ladies fleeing terrible circumstances then show how FHCHI does not just offer hope it leads to change. When presenting these stories and images FHCHI will ensure that the representations are not demeaning, exploiting, or misleading the public (Burnett, 2002). The organization will also ensure that the dignity of those depicted remains in tact. The sole purpose of telling these stories it to spread awareness and inspire others to take action.

In ‘Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor’ by Bell Hooks, issues involving the poor and the rich in the society are brought to light. Hooks addresses issues such as how the poor are viewed in the community, common assumptions about the poor, and how the poor are represented in the media. In her analysis, it is evident that those living in poverty are grossly misrepresented. This misrepresentation affects these people’s daily lives.

I am only thinking about myself and have been conditioned by society that the poor are beneath me. Just as hooks states in her book, “Society is telling them that poverty and nihilism are one and the same. If they cannot escape poverty, then they have no choice but to drown in the image of a life that is valueless” (hooks, 198), we have been taught by society to believe that poverty and nihilism are synonymous, but this is not true. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, I believe it takes a nation to resolve the issue of poverty. Our society needs to dig deep to reignite the morals that generations in the past taught us; sharing our resources, whether monetarily or charitably, through understanding, kindness and generosity to those less fortunate. We all have to be ready to share liberally and recognize the fact that there are those who struggle and deserve attention paid to their struggles. By helping others who have not, we keep our humanity intact and maintain our ability to empathize and show compassion towards others. Our culture is based on working together and helping our neighbors. We need to stop considering the poor invisible and instead take personal steps to keep our communities thriving via good will towards others, and lending a helping hand. The poor, just as our environment, are our responsibility, and the sharing of resources is crucial to bringing an individual from poverty to a more

Words provoke preconceived ideas and images in the mind, when it comes to a situation like poverty these preconceived notions can have undesirable and unintended consequences. Diana George examines the semantics and the imagery of the word poverty in her article titled “Changing the Face of Poverty; Nonprofits and the Problem of Representation. While also addressing the issue of the perception poverty and what someone in poverty truly looks like (676). Prof. George is arguing that organizations like Habitat for Humanity, which are created to help people in poverty actually perpetuate the wrong image of what someone in poverty looks like (678). Most organizations created to help those in need, especially those in the US tend to portray poverty as what is seen and thought of as living conditions in Third World countries (683). In reality, poverty is all around each and every one of us in this country on a daily basis, and people might not always recognize it for what it is (681,682). Furthermore, the majority of people living in poverty in the United States do not live like or look like someone living in a Third World country. But in reality they are still living in poverty nonetheless (682,683). Organizations that portray people living in poverty here in the US as totally devastated and completely impoverished are doing a disservice to the people they are attempting to help. Consequently, by doing this they are giving a limiting idea of what someone living in poverty

Poverty is a serious phenomenon that has been widespread all over the world. Although, many charitable organizations like CARE, Action Against Hunger (AAH) or Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN) have operated with a highest enthusiasm to help the indigent, the amount of those have still been increasing significantly in recent years. According to the survey of the United States Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans in poverty rose from 12.2 to 15.9 percent and the proportion skyrocketed from 33.3 million to 48.8 million between 2000 and 2012 (Bishaw, 2013). The indigent are very poor people, including the disabled, beggars, homeless people who live in slums with lacking of insurance, being unemployed and earning underpaid salaries, about

Study hard, work hard, and graduate from high school. Don’t do drugs or drink alcohol. Don’t break the law. Get married, then have children. Don’t bring children into the world unless you can financially support them. If possible, go to college or a trade school. These suggestions for breaking the cycle of poverty sounds simple, but for millions of Americans, generational poverty is hard to overcome. Many people in poverty have done one or more of these things, yet they still find themselves struggling financially.

“Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display it horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society—how a few people could live in luxury while billion dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair. Each Nations will have to choose it own target date for building a national poverty museum. The initiative could come from government, foundations, NGOs, political parties, or any other section of society.”

When we attack poverty on many levels, bringing together aid and education, community and economic development, and bringing empowerment to individuals, women and children, then we can begin to see real change in the communities and society. However, society is strutted in such a way that not all