“Dirt Poor”

Kurt Love, Ph.D.Central Connecticut State University

11/14/13Henry James Memorial School, Simsbury

Europeans & American Indians

American Indians:

Lived close to the Earth

Believed in “7-Generation” thinking

Saw that abusing nature meant abusing themselves

Europeans & American Indians

Europeans:

Valued technology instead of nature.

The Earth was something to dominate and manipulate to meet their desires.

Saw themselves as superior because they had technology or were more distanced from nature

Europeans & American Indians

Europeans saw American Indians as not fully human or an “other.”

Because Europeans saw the Earth as something to conquer with their technology, they also saw people who lived close to nature as people they could conquer.

European & West AfricansClash of two peoples because of how they related to the Earth

Europeans: Nature for profit, land ownership, enclosure, capitalist mindset/values

West Africans: Nurturance, reciprocity, sustainable mindset/values

Slavery: About 12 million captured and shipped to the Americas, 645,000 brought to the U.S., nearly 4 million slaves in the 1860 census

Domination for profit via capitalism

Rural Poverty

Rural Poverty

Rural Poverty

Southern Poverty

Rural Poverty

How is poverty and connection

to the Earth related?

High Status Job?

Poverty & Technology

Poverty & Technology

What is the relationship

between poverty and technology?

Poverty & Technology

Those that live more dependent

on technology (or with more

distance from nature) are seen

as being wealthier.