A pink dupattā (Indian shawl-like scarf) peeks out from the bottom right corner of the window pane. A young girl’s eyes curiously scan the dimly lit room where my mentor and I sit cross-legged on her family’s rug. Later, we leave the room with two of the biggest papayas I’ve ever seen and sore faces from laughing.
A group of girls my sister’s age giggle in unison, eyes shining and faces turning away with laughter, as I clumsily read out what my friend has just translated into Hindi for me: “I really like your jewelry!”.
A mother gently strokes her toddler’s matted hair with one hand while holding his torso steady with the other, as her eyes both earnestly and tiredly follow the dynamic gestures of the facilitator who’s chirping about the best sources of iron for mother and child alike.
Who are these people, you ask?
According to India’s National Family Health Survey, these girls and women are probably part of the staggering 57% of women aged 15–49 in India who have anemia. From another measure of what’s dubbed the “South Asian enigma” (a lot of South Asian countries’ stubbornly high rates of malnutrition despite economic growth), the women are likely two of 255 million people in South Asia who remain undernourished (ORF). In 2040, the girls’ children will likely be some of the nearly 600 million children globally who are projected to live in areas of extremely high water stress (UNICEF).
It’s easy to get lost in all the massive numbers and figures thrown around with grim projections of ten, twenty, or a hundred years from now. As people with much more privilege compared to the majority of an entire half of the globe, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to the massive ecological and social reckonings that are unfolding for millions of fellow human beings and live our lives in blissful ignorance. However, my grassroots-level work here in India has opened my eyes to the unshakeable, pulsing humanity and aliveness of every person — a state of being I so easily see all around me, but can often forget the magnitude of after endless articles and studies about the people most burdened by our worsening climate and unjust food system. These women aren’t just mothers or agricultural laborers, they’re uniquely individual human beings with dreams, hopes, and fears, just like us. These girls aren’t just students or caregivers to their younger siblings, they’re lively, playful, curious teenage girls just like some of us. In short, these people aren’t merely subjects in a research study, recipients of aid, or people in need of saving.
The S M Sehgal Foundation’s (SMSF) approach to rural development has introduced me to a humanizing and sustainable approach to development work grounded in inherent respect and trust for the community (of course, nothing is completely perfect). Their approach to development projects in rural communities is based on the actual reality of the villagers’ needs through extensive and respectful conversation with community members, rather than marching in with assumptions of what’s best for them and implementing projects unaligned with the community’s beliefs and values, a faulty and insensitive approach often adopted by development agencies (source). My mentors here encourage me to ask questions not simply as a means of inquiry but as a way of understanding the why, how, and other layers that make their ways of living and sociocultural practices understandable. Taking the time to truly understand what the community needs and openly communicating the Foundation’s capacities has allowed the SMSF to inspire meaningful, sustainable change rooted in the hearts and minds of community members.
For example, after understanding a village’s need for a check dam to strengthen its water management capabilities, the SMSF will only move ahead with the project if the villagers are willing to make a personal investment into the project (a portion of the costs but not a trivial amount) to ensure the sustainability of the project once the Foundation leaves the village. As the Foundation’s book Together We Empower states, “Sustainability [is] the hope and the measure of genuine accomplishment in any development undertaking”. Empowering the villagers to have a sense of personal accomplishment, pride, and ownership in the construction and upkeep of this dam uplifts the community and helps them recognize their agency and capacity for progress from within.
The solutions to the issues plaguing communities worldwide, particularly in the Global South, such as climate change, malnutrition, and water scarcity (the word issues feels like an understatement), require complex, multi-dimensional solutions that are rooted in the unique context of every ecosystem of people and environment. While a check dam is only a tiny piece of the larger work needed to be done, this community-centered approach is one I hope to scale up and bring with me to future work I do in this interdisciplinary, deeply personal yet civilizational issue space. All the climate-smart infrastructure, government policies, development work, and other efforts we’re pushing forward with are for people who are more similar to us than we might think and for generations of people to come — we must hold on to this truth in all the work we do.
Another issue that is deeply intertwined with this concept is the pervasive harms of white saviorism — what writer Teju Cole describes as an “intricate web of Global North/South power relations” — particularly in international development work. I rarely hear about the stunning paradox of Western economic systems’ continued exploitation of communities in the Global South while international organizations focus on local development interventions that target the symptoms of this global injustice (learn more in an article from The Conversation). What’s more, the Western self-perception that Westerners are more capable and intelligent, and thus more “developed”, underpins all of these efforts, entrenching and embodying the unjust power dynamics that exist around our world today. Cole describes a similar white savior industrial complex (WSIC) common in international development and overseas volunteer work in regions in the Global South: he states that the WSIC is “not about justice”, rather “it is about a big emotional experience that validates privilege.” The author of the aforementioned article, Themrise Khan, concludes that white saviorism is both a state of mind and a very real power imbalance between the Global North and South that has only grown over time.
I’m not going to pretend I understand all of these complex power structures and systems of oppression: I have much to learn and see, and I’m just beginning to understand how I might play into these complex, unjust social dynamics as a privileged resident of the U.S. However, rather than immediately denounce all international development efforts as intentionally misguided, I want to learn more about how people from places of privilege can collectively work to “see more like an anthropologist” (see a riveting narrative on this concept here) and address the power imbalances that have been perpetuated through past and ongoing development efforts. While I don’t have all the answers, my time here in India has taught me the importance of asking questions that get to the why and the how to understand people’s present reality, needs, ideas, and belief systems and recognizing the humanity, agency, and capabilities of every person. As Logan Cochrane of the University of British Columbia encouraged, I’m also learning to embrace the act of “reflexivity” — critically examining my “roles, engagements, practices, and objectives” as I move through this role and beyond.
Wherever you are in your field of study, stage of life, or place of residence, I urge you to choose to be an active agent of change in your sphere of influence, the broader community, and beyond by recognizing what systems we reside in and how we can work to create a just shared existence for all. Lean into the pain that you feel when you read the news and see the stark realities of other human beings — this pain is what connects us all — and use it to catalyze you into action to be a part of something bigger than yourself. This could mean volunteering in your neighborhood or at a hotline, donating to a charity (make sure to pick one that’s transparent and trustworthy — check out GiveWell for a list of the charities that have the most impact per dollar), or discussing these topics with your colleagues to bring about collective action within your community. If you’d like to discuss these issues further with me, please don’t hesitate to reach out or comment! I have so much to learn and experience — this is just the beginning.
I believe this all starts with recognizing the humanity in and kinship with every person: we’re all a lot more similar than what first meets the eye.
