Toward a More Inclusive Poverty Knowledge

Abstract

This paper posits that specialization within disciplines has enabled a fragmentation of knowledge in poverty research, which results in individualistic explanations for poverty that arise naturally from disconnects inherent in isolating frameworks. It proposes that the use of a traumatological framework provides nuances of argument missing from previous discussions, which may allow us to more critically examine the ‘culture of poverty’ thesis. Such an examination may lead us to consider an alternative explanation. Rather than inherent cultural attributes, descriptors of poverty populations may be manifestations of the symptoms produced by the violence of poverty and other life experiences, and the resultant trauma.

Key Words:

• Culture
• poverty
• social work
• trauma
• violence