No way out: The formation and maintenance of poverty as seen in la Marin, Quito, Ecuador
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Authors
Rustan, Amy Marie
Issue Date
2002
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
The fieldwork for this thesis was conducted in a marginal neighborhood of
Quito, Ecuador called la Marin. There, I worked with laboring and extremely poor
children, mostly between the ages of three and eighteen. I learned of the life situation
of these children. I volunteered for almost three months at a non-governmental
organization called Proyecto Salesiano located in la Marin. There I helped children
with homework, served as a mentor, and a friend. I also taught English in a
neighborhood school, and I conducted field visits in several other surrounding
schools, some traditional and others vocational. With the Proyecto, I also attended
and led several field trips for the children.
Through my field work I learned about the environment, families, and schools
of the children. My library research led me to further reflect on my time in Quito. I
contemplated why these members of la Marin are so poor while members of the
neighborhood that I lived in and the school that I attended were extremely affluent. I
applied Bourdieu's theory of the creation of habitus (norms and dispositions) to
explain the structures in Laitn American history that have created a situation of
inequality. Then, I complimented Bourdieu's theory with theories of socialization to
explain how habitus is passed from one generation to the next, thereby maintaining
and perpetuating poverty for some and wealth for others. All of this was analyzed
with vivid examples from my fieldwork in Ia Marin.
Description
ix, 93 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.