The Real Slumdog 's Documentary

The city of Mumbai has seen much growth in the past years. A string of elegant hotels have been set up for travelers and high-class business men. An ever growing, top of the line airport has been built for those coming in and out of the country. From the outside, Mumbai seems to have taken a liking to being internationally integrated with the rest of world, otherwise known as globalization. This is not the case, however; as seen in Katherine Boo’s novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. This novel is set in a slum right next to the Mumbai International Airport called

In Katherine Boo’s “Opening Night: The scene from the airport slums,” we see the continual contrast in Mumbai between the extremely poor and the rich. She describes the effects of extreme poverty. The juxtapositions highlight the social disruption, economic disadvantages can cause. We also learn that movie’s depiction of slums is glamorized and unrealistic. Most shocking the author focuses on several characters, mostly young people (like Sunil), and describes the environment they live in. We see the overwhelming effects of extreme poverty in every aspect of their lives and realize they will not be able to escape and rise out of the slums. The lack of education and jobs are preventing these people from progressing. We realize how the rich

Socially, globalization impacts the lives of people by impacting their work, their families, and their societies. This is because globalization affects the security of a country, its culture, and identity by introducing new ways of thinking and living. In the article, The Case for Contamination, the author Kwame Anthony Appiah, observes

In reading the first parts of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the primary setting of Annawadi was not often described in a glowing light. The area gave me the image of a worse off poorer part of an inner city. The slum seemed to be rather crowded, often very dirty with trash being abound, unclean sewage water being prevalent, overall a rather unnerving place to live. Looking more towards the conditions of the population of Annawadi, there is not a whole lot of positive to be gleaned from here. The majority of the slum’s citizens do not have stable paying jobs, forcing people to undertake very unconventional paths to gain money, such as Sunil, who like a number of people, gain money by scavenging through garbage. Additionally due to the unsettled

The school excellence in Dharavi is excellence. There are an estimated 5000 businesses is Dharavi. Some consist of recycling, leather products, jewelry, food, pots, clothing and various accessories. 85% of people in Dharavi have a job. The biggest recycling industry is recycling. The recycling industry is reported to employ approximately 250,000 people, so it is a very big thing there. People who work in the recycling only make about a dollar a day. People who work in the recycling industry are called rag pickers and there have been at least 4 generations working as such. It is estimated that the neighborhoods of this slum contribute about 1 billion dollars to Mumbai’s economy. This community is filled with business and industry. Some of the industries in Dharavi have made some people rich. Those who have become rich stay in Dharavi because they don’t want to leave, it’s their home and they stay humble. The people of this slum are very organized,

In this week’s “Working with Evidence”, the primary focus was on globalization, which is the process of businesses or other organizations developing international influence or operations on an international scale, after World War II. Based on the provided six images and the text of Chapter 23, it presented different ways various groups of people experienced globalization since the end of World War II. To begin, visual source 23.1 (‘Globalization and Work’) shows a Chinese-owned company producing jeans in a small country in southern Africa called Lesotho - this image shows the economic benefits of globalization. Many companies in wealthier countries would often find advantages to build facilities in places where labor is less expensive or environmental regulations are less restrictive. However, some companies would abuse the process of economic globalization as shown in visual source 23.3 (‘Globalization and Protest’). Visual source 23.3 shows a protester in Sao Paulo, Brazil, holding up a sign that reads “A better world according to Monsanto is a world with more cancer.” The company Monsanto is a major producer of herbicides, genetically modified foods, and many highly controversial chemicals such as DDT, PCBs, Agent Orange, and bovine growth hormones. In dozens of developed/developing countries activists have demonstrated or riot against government policies that removed subsidies raised prices on essential products, frozen salaries, or cut back on social services. Although

The author Mike Davis has done countless research on the topic of urban poverty. In his studies he collects and receives his information from other sources. Perhaps this is the reason why he has a negative view on slums. This is illustrated in his piece “Planet of Slums” as he discusses the politics, urban development, and methods within the slums population. According to Davis, slums and urban poverty have and will continue to significantly increase. While doing so, the gap in exclusion and inequality will grow. As a result, this will weaken urban elites in their work to utilize cities as engines of growth. Slums and slum population are classified as those who are living below the poverty lines, all while, being associated with overcrowding, having poor or informal housing, inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, and insecurity of tenure. This is being recognized as an international phenomenon. To emphasis this phenomenon, approximately half of the slum population in most

While it may be easier to persuade yourself that Boo’s published stories are works of fiction, her writings of the slums that surround the luxury hotels of Mumbai’s airport are very, very real. Katherine Boo’s book “Behind the Beautiful Forevers – Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity” does not attempt to solve problems or be an expert on social policy; instead, Boo provides the reader with an objective window into the battles between extremities of wealth and poverty. “Behind the Beautiful Forevers,” then, exposes the paucity and corruption prevalent within India.

Ravisankar begins his essay by relating to his audience with a connection of being poor college students, who look for the bargain deals. The problem he identifies is that consumerism and the obsession for low priced goods caused the demand for sweatshop labor. He assumes readers have some familiarity with the term sweatshop, but do not fully understand how horrible the conditions and hours in a sweatshop truly are. His purpose is to convince students at Ohio State University to take action against Sweatshop labor. In order to accomplish this purpose, he mainly appeals to readers sense of ethics.

Gentrification is the term that explains the process of renovating and improving homes, or a district to conform to middle-class preferences. As viewed in the documentary Class Divide, a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York called West Chelsea has already undergone a major shift in their community. The addition of schools such as The Avenues, and tourist attractions like the High Line has generated a new identity for the community. Children who are born in poverty in the United States have a harder time getting out of poverty than those children who come from other developed countries. This is due to various institutions such as The Avenues that have created a gap between social classes, making it harder for the lower class to achieve success. Throughout the documentary, the storyline constantly shifts to represent two different point of views: the upper class and the lower class. Within these different points of views, the central themes become evident: income inequality, opposing views of privileged and underprivileged students, and the gentrification of a community.

Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums, predicts the direction in which the world’s cities are headed, and how the changes in living conditions are only going to deteriorate if certain trends continue. The title of his book explains Davis’s vision for the future of cities as he feels there is enough evidence pointing towards an exponential rise in slum populations across the world’s largest cities. Additionally, he expresses his opinion on many issues regarding the rapid rise in developing cities’ slum populations, although he offers very one-sided arguments geared towards those who feel the current system is causing more problems rather than improving current conditions. This causes Davis to overlook the problems of slums as resolvable through different modes of assistance such as international aid programs. Instead, he views aid programs as the root cause of imbalance created during industrialization. Throughout the book, Davis presents information that confirms his preconceptions towards the slums. Therefore, all the evidence that is presented by him portrays confirmation bias as Davis fails to mention anything about the resolution of the problem of the growing number of slums and instead sees this problem as unavoidable. Particularly, Davis’ writing, although intended for the general population, is more geared towards critics who have similar ideas. Instead of providing the means through which the economy could be improved and the problem of slums could be resolved, it is

Poverty and oppression is a serious condition that is prevalent even in today’s modern society. Women and children are exposed to poverty and subjected to a life of injustice. One of the countries where such problems still occur is in India. Despite the country’s modernization, there lies an undercity where the disparity of wealth is transparent. These social problems are thoroughly described in movies and literature such as Slumdog Millionaire and Behind the Beautiful Forevers. In the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Catherine Boo, the author describes slum life for a set of individuals and the hardship that their social conditions confined them to. Another movie that gave insight to slum life in India is Slumdog Millionaire

Released in 2012, The House I Live In is a documentary that focuses mainly on drug laws, their affects on communities and its place in the War on Drugs in America. This documentary takes a deeper look at all involved in this drug war. From the dealer, to the user, to the user’s family, to drug enforcement officers, and political officials, all are recognized. Many shocking statistics were brought to my attention, many regarding the amount of money spent by the US to get a grip on this war on drugs and it’s drug users/dealers, as well as, the number of arrests made for various offenses. In addition to the statistics, the criminal justice system was greatly focused on when discussing offenders, as well as, the reasons for which they had carried

Slums are hindrance to the achievement of economic growth and development. It is the duty of the government to plan effectively towards the achievement of quality life within the cities. Slums contribute towards the presence of criminal activities within the cities and unemployment hence a significant force towards the overall economic development. Upgrading of slums is vital in the process of offering economic, social, institutional, and cultural services to the city dwellers like other citizens.

In Hanoi many of the locals sell their produce or goods from the side of the roads, their own homes and the famous traditional markets that are squished together with stalls and people. We see that these are the important aspects of their lives the upper class. The lower classes make their livings from these markets. ‘The local economy in the form of small scale shops is extremely important for the lesser well-off in society.’ (Geertman,2010) the profits are then returned to them as they don’t have to pay rent as many thought they were entitled to the space where they sold their goods . ‘.Also