Invoking Everydayness in Poverty Studies in India

The field of research on poverty is served mainly by scholars who are influenced by the demands of measurement rather than contextualisation. This has led to a lack of focus on the relational and political side of the problem of poverty, as well as on the lives of the poor. The domain of strategic decision-making of the poor has also not been adequately researched. This paper calls for further exploration of this domain by employing a combination of methods/techniques used in the field of social anthropology. Such depictions of the poor and of poverty would not only correct a bias in the orientation of studies on poverty, but would also serve a political end by possibly dislodging our complacent attitudes towards poverty and destitution.