Shame on Who? Jennifer Barr Researches Development with Dignity

Community Led Total Sanitation as colonial hangover, how to poop while on the trail, shoehorning sanitation inside other sectors, and the importance of sunblock. Shawn “The Puru” Shafner spends an hour with anthropologist and Emory University PhD candidate Jennifer Barr. Jennifer spent 13 months living in Delhi and writing case studies of NGOs including Sulabh, India’s toilet-building monolith, and Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), a grassroots organization dedicated to the liberation and rehabilitation of all persons engaged in manual scavenging. It left her wondering: do current international development practices put human dignity and wellbeing at the center of their work? Where might colonial history and modern biases be skewing our attempts to do good? Hear Jennifer’s findings PLUS reasons why NGOs should use the word “shit,” and why the wise stop trying to “change the world” and instead focus on making small, human-centered improvements with gentleness, compassion and love. More from Jennifer on Twitter: @jenniferabarr

Also mentioned in this episode

Stakeholders, diarrheal disease, environmental enteropathy, malnourishment, stunting, CARE International, nutrition, sanitation, UNICEF, MHM, menstrual hygiene management, India Habitat Center, The Great Stink, sanitary revolution, CLTS, roundworm, outhouses, bullying, open defecation, David Inglis, Sociological History of Excremental Experience, Bezwada Wilson, Dalit, caste system, Untouchables, Mierle Ukeles, Rose George, The Big Necessity, World Toilet Summit, Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Rajasthan, Alwar