Festival Elephants and the Myth of Global Poverty

Part of the "Anthropology Works" series, this book offers a critical look at the compelling issue of global aid. 

Glynne Cochrane 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 author takes issue with 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.