Representations of Global Poverty: Aid, Development and International NGOs

by Nandita Dogra

Through the efforts of increasingly media-aware NGOs, people in the west are bombarded with images of poverty and inequality in the developing world. Representations of Poverty is the first comprehensive study of the communications and imagery used by international NGOs to represent the developing world. In this meticulously researched and original book, Nandita Dogra examines the full cycle of representation - integrating analyses of the public messages of international development NGOs in the UK with the views of their staff and audiences. Exploring the Europeanised discourses inherent in appeals to this notion of a 'common humanity', she argues for a greater acknowledgment of NGOs as significant mediating institutions which can expand understandings of global inequalities and their historical causation. The book is a timely addition to the growing fields of development and media studies and will be a key resource for academics, policymakers and practitioners alike who have an interest in global poverty, aid, NGOs, and the politics of representation.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 24, 2012

Reviews

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was of interest as someone who has worked for many years in the international development sector. The book raised interesting points in the framing of media and the role NGOs play in communicating poverty to Western audiences. However, I think this could have been better embedded with the demands on NGOs from the public, regulators and leadership which mean the representations of global poverty so often lack nuance and dignity.

I think this book raises important points and it's relevance persists 10 years after it was written. I regret it taking me so long to read it and would recommend it to anyone who works in international development fundraising.

[Rachel Tallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book. Very readable as it gives you the overview of the debates concerning charity images. Building upon Kate Manzo's work and perhaps in many ways taking a Spivakian viewpoint, Dogra really asks what perspective are you employing - subconsciously - when you take that photo of that starving child and secondly, what worldview are you supporting. This is an excellent introduction to the debates of images in development and every NGO media worker should read this book. She also gives good examples of how NGOs can disrupt the same old tropes and work towards equality of representation. In a nutshell, Dogra's book is the practical outcome of Sontag's argument that was explained by Susan Moeller: That whoever controls the camera controls the culture.

[Sydni · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. Came across incredibly subjective. If Dogra's opinions are based on fact, she does not show it. Very judgmental towards NGOs and the work that they do. She does bring up some good questions to think about, so that may be worthwhile the read, but overall I think you can find her ideas written in a much more compelling way somewhere else.