Living in Poverty

A volume in Advances in Cultural PsychologySeries Editor: Jaan Valsiner Clark UniversityThis book covers the results of investigation of social realities and their public representation in Brazilianpoor communities with a particular emphasis on the use of cultural tools to survive and create psychologicaland social novelty under conditions of severe poverty. A relevant part of it brings together the multi-facetedevidence of a decade of research concentrated in two particular low-income areas in the city of Salvador daBahia Brazil. Other studies conducted in other Brazilian areas and in Cali Colombia are included.In contrast to most representations of poverty in the social sciences which create a calamity story of thelives of poor people the coverage in this book is meant to balance the focus on harsh realities with thecultural-psychological resiliency of individuals and families under poverty.