Festival Elephants and the Myth of Global Poverty

This supplemental text for cultural and applied anthropology courses offers a critical look at the compelling issue of global aid. The author draws on his many years as a development anthropologist to show how the "Festival Elephants" of development aid are wasting time and money instead of helping to solve poverty. The book rails against the idea that there is only one kind of global poverty (and one single solution). Instead, through his travels to places like the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, the Cook Islands, and Tanzania, the author shows that poverty is locally experienced and contextually variable.

Glynn Cochrane taught at Syracuse University and other institutions worldwide.