The Political Face of Poverty: Cases of Human Rights Violations in Pasil, Cebu City.

Working within the framework of poverty as a multidimensional condition of limitations (Chambers 2007, 2006, 2005, 1995) and the absence of well-being (Narayan, Chambers and others 2000) this paper focuses on the political dimension of poverty particularly in the area of human rights. What is thus figuratively referred to as the political face of poverty is neither the economic nor the statistical of depravity but livedexperiences and over-all condition that forms a web of humiliation, manipulation and isolation among others. In this paper, the political face of poverty needs is understood and presented qualitatively within the context of the landscape of power relations concrete in the experiences of human rights violations among the poor. It is, in a profound sense, the gestalt of the narratives of the poor themselves (cf. environment, participants and methodology for an elaboration of this) and their experiences. The depth and concreteness of these narratives constitute the very data subject to analysis and serve as the basis as well for the formulation of the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]