Talking About Global Inequality: Personal experiences and historical perspectives
Talking about Global Inequality is a book of interview essays with nineteen public intellectuals and scholars from all over the world reflecting on some of the biggest questions of our age: what is global inequality, what causes it, and how should we deal with it? By reading their responses to these questions, we learn how the contributors’ personal background, and the places they have worked and lived, have shaped their views on global inequality, a topic they all engage with in their professional, academic lives. We learn about the causes of global inequality, the historical factors that have shaped the world into an unequal place, and the challenges that humanity is confronted with in the face of the widening gap between the poor and the rich. This book aims at showing that thinking about and discussing global inequality demands us to learn about how this long-lasting phenomenon is and has been experienced, and thought of, in different countries across all continents. The contributors to this book all offer their own viewpoints and theories in connection to their personal experiences and background by answering five key questions:
- What is your background and how did you become interested in global inequality?
- What is global inequality?
- How have the places in which you have lived and worked influenced your view on global inequality?
- What are the main historical causes of global inequality?
- What are the most pressing contemporary challenges concerning global inequality, and how do we deal with them?
With the aim of including as many perspectives as possible, accommodating both very known and lesser known individuals as well as different genders and age groups, the invitation to participate in this book was partly premised on the contributors’ geographical area of expertise, country of birth and nationality. The author's home-discipline was also a factor we considered in the selection process. Readers will be able to discover myriad viewpoints on the question of global inequality, as interviewees are experts in disciplines ranging from history to economics, philosophy to sociology, literary studies to anthropology, intellectual history to political science. Hence, we hope to demonstrate that the topic of global inequality can be approached from multiple angles, both quantitative and qualitative, and that each perspective has something valuable to say on its causes and effects. By doing so, this book aims at transcending the traditional boundaries between research and research dissemination, between our interest in the past and our interest in the present.
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART I. Deep Roots: Legacies of Imperialism and Colonialism
Siep Stuurman Notes For A New History
Julia McClure Poverty And Ideology: Historic Pathways
Göran Therborn Anti-Imperialism and Digging for the Bases of Power and Privilege
Walter Mignolo The Colonial Matrix of Power
Tung-yi Kho Colonial Logics and the Journey from the Third World to the First, and Back Again
PART II. Unequal Entanglements: A Capitalist World System
Branko Milanovic Self-Interest and Similar Wealth Across Nations Equals World Peace
James K. Galbraith An Analysis Built on Global Measurement
Alastair Greig How the Global Movement of Money and People Turns the World Upside Down
Ingrid Kvangraven The Need to Centre Imperialism
Gilbert Achcar The Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism
PART III. The Inertia of Hierarchies: Class, Caste, Race, Gender
Dilip Menon Landscapes of Hierarchy
Krishna Swamy Experiences of Inequality from India, a Sociobiographical View
Shankar Writing about Poverty and Caste as a Novelist and Cultural Critic
Arabo K. Ewinyu Reflecting on my Experiences of Gender Inequality in Kenya and South Africa
Manushi Yami Bhattarai Global Resistances and Solidarities: A View from Nepal
PART IV. Thinking Beyond Economics: The Politics of Inequalities
Camila Vergara From Chile to New York: Systemic Corruption and Oligarchic Domination
Tania Murray Li Making the Familiar Strange: Anthropological Reflections
Agustín Cosovschi From Buenos Aires to Belgrade
Sheila Bunwaree Perspectives from The South: an Islander Woman Speaks
The book is available for purchase at this link
Talking About Global Inequality: Personal experiences and historical perspectives
Talking about Global Inequality is a book of interview essays with nineteen public intellectuals and scholars from all over the world reflecting on some of the biggest questions of our age: what is global inequality, what causes it, and how should we deal with it? By reading their responses to these questions, we learn how the contributors’ personal background, and the places they have worked and lived, have shaped their views on global inequality, a topic they all engage with in their professional, academic lives. We learn about the causes of global inequality, the historical factors that have shaped the world into an unequal place, and the challenges that humanity is confronted with in the face of the widening gap between the poor and the rich. This book aims at showing that thinking about and discussing global inequality demands us to learn about how this long-lasting phenomenon is and has been experienced, and thought of, in different countries across all continents. The contributors to this book all offer their own viewpoints and theories in connection to their personal experiences and background by answering five key questions:
- What is your background and how did you become interested in global inequality?
- What is global inequality?
- How have the places in which you have lived and worked influenced your view on global inequality?
- What are the main historical causes of global inequality?
- What are the most pressing contemporary challenges concerning global inequality, and how do we deal with them?
With the aim of including as many perspectives as possible, accommodating both very known and lesser known individuals as well as different genders and age groups, the invitation to participate in this book was partly premised on the contributors’ geographical area of expertise, country of birth and nationality. The author's home-discipline was also a factor we considered in the selection process. Readers will be able to discover myriad viewpoints on the question of global inequality, as interviewees are experts in disciplines ranging from history to economics, philosophy to sociology, literary studies to anthropology, intellectual history to political science. Hence, we hope to demonstrate that the topic of global inequality can be approached from multiple angles, both quantitative and qualitative, and that each perspective has something valuable to say on its causes and effects. By doing so, this book aims at transcending the traditional boundaries between research and research dissemination, between our interest in the past and our interest in the present.
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART I. Deep Roots: Legacies of Imperialism and Colonialism
Siep Stuurman Notes For A New History
Julia McClure Poverty And Ideology: Historic Pathways
Göran Therborn Anti-Imperialism and Digging for the Bases of Power and Privilege
Walter Mignolo The Colonial Matrix of Power
Tung-yi Kho Colonial Logics and the Journey from the Third World to the First, and Back Again
PART II. Unequal Entanglements: A Capitalist World System
Branko Milanovic Self-Interest and Similar Wealth Across Nations Equals World Peace
James K. Galbraith An Analysis Built on Global Measurement
Alastair Greig How the Global Movement of Money and People Turns the World Upside Down
Ingrid Kvangraven The Need to Centre Imperialism
Gilbert Achcar The Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism
PART III. The Inertia of Hierarchies: Class, Caste, Race, Gender
Dilip Menon Landscapes of Hierarchy
Krishna Swamy Experiences of Inequality from India, a Sociobiographical View
Shankar Writing about Poverty and Caste as a Novelist and Cultural Critic
Arabo K. Ewinyu Reflecting on my Experiences of Gender Inequality in Kenya and South Africa
Manushi Yami Bhattarai Global Resistances and Solidarities: A View from Nepal
PART IV. Thinking Beyond Economics: The Politics of Inequalities
Camila Vergara From Chile to New York: Systemic Corruption and Oligarchic Domination
Tania Murray Li Making the Familiar Strange: Anthropological Reflections
Agustín Cosovschi From Buenos Aires to Belgrade
Sheila Bunwaree Perspectives from The South: an Islander Woman Speaks
