Social Lab on Poverty in South India

Globally, poverty is a continuing problem that is not easily resolved. 650 million people in India live below the poverty line. In the south of India in the rural region around the city of Mysore, half of women are illiterate, and lack equal opportunity of employment. Although research has been done on technological and financial solutions to poverty, a key gap in the research is understanding the social inhibiting patterns (personal and social habits) that limit creative solutions toward change. My research will build off of a ten year established relationship with University of Mysore to advance the work into cutting-edge creative processes towards change that rely on local wisdom. The outcomes will offer rural communities new ideas on how to empower women in income generation, create a toolkit of processes for organizations locally and worldwide to deal with complex social problems like poverty, and advance academic knowledge in creativity, social innovation, and social habits.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ashok Mathur

Student:

Mike Unrau

Partner:

Discipline:

Cultural studies

Sector:

University:

University of British Columbia Okanagan

Program:

Globalink Research Award