GENDER, ALIENATION, AND DIGNITY IN GLOBAL - Scholars

224 Pages·2013·0.97 MB·English

by  Johanna Luttrell

GENDER, ALIENATION, AND DIGNITY IN GLOBAL SLUMS

by

JOHANNA LUTTRELL

A DISSERTATION

Presented to the Department of Philosophy
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

September 2013
DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE

Student: Johanna Cathleen Luttrell

Title: Gender, Alienation, and Dignity in Global Slums

This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Philosophy by:

Dr. Naomi Zack Co-Chairperson
Dr. Cheyney Ryan Co-Chairperson
Dr. Bonnie Mann Core Member
Dr. Eileen Otis Institutional Representative

and

Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research and Innovation;
Dean of the Graduate School

Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School.

Degree awarded September 2013

ii
© 2013 Johanna Luttrell
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No
Derivs (United States) License.
iii
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT

Johanna C. Luttrell

Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy

September 2013

Title: Gender, Alienation, and Dignity in Global Slums

This dissertation is a philosophical inquiry into the problem of the slums that
develop in and around large cities in the Global South, considered in the context of
globalization. I argue first that theories of global justice must consider this new human
condition engendered by the global slums; second, that the language of alienation and
dignity is crucial to conceptions of global poverty; third, that this alienation is in large
part predicated on the exploitation of women’s labor; and finally, that this dignitarian
response to alienation is a critical addition to the Capabilities Approach.

iv
CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME OF AUTHOR: Johanna C. Luttrell

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:

University of Oregon, Eugene
University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois

DEGREES AWARDED:

Doctor of Philosophy, 2013, University of Oregon
Master of Arts, 2011, University of Oregon
Bachelor of Arts, 2006, DePaul University

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

Social and Political Philosophy

Feminist Philosophy

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Graduate Teaching Fellow, the Savage Endowment for International Relations
and Peace, 2011-2013

Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Philosophy and Department of Women
and Gender Studies, 2007-2013

GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS:

Dissertation Fellowship, Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, University of
Oregon, 2011

Fellowship, Oregon University System- Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship
Fund, University of Oregon, 2010

v
PUBLICATIONS:

Luttrell, Johanna. “John Berger”, The Encyclopedia of Global Justice, ed. Deen
K. Chatterjee, Springer, 2010. 72-74.

vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express sincere thanks to my co-chairs, Dr. Naomi Zack and Dr.
Cheyney Ryan, for their inspiring mentorship. I also would like to thank the members of
my committee, Dr. Eileen Otis and Dr. Bonnie Mann, for their clearheaded support and
guidance. This project was made possible a dissertation fellowship from the Wayne
Morse Center for Law and Politics at the University of Oregon, as well as the Oregon
University System- Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund.

vii
I dedicate this work to my parents, Anthony and Jan Luttrell, for all their support during
graduate school.

viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

I. THE PICTURE OF POVERTY TODAY: URBAN SLUMS IN THE GLOBAL
SOUTH ...................................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Overview ........................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Slums on a Global Scale ................................................................................ 4

1.3. Avoiding Being Killed: Port-au-Prince and São Paulo .................................. 17

1.4. Finding Work: Rio de Janiero and Nogales ................................................... 20
1.5. Gaining Respect: Mumbai ............................................................................. 24
1.6. A Response to Global Poverty ....................................................................... 27

II. WOMEN’S WORK AND ASSETS ...................................................................... 31
2.1. Overview ........................................................................................................ 31
2.2. Instrumentalizing Women’s Labor for Neoliberal Expansion ....................... 32

2.3. Exploiting Women’s Labor in the Global Economy: The Third Shift ........... 35

2.4. Getting Out of Poverty: Asset Accumulation ................................................. 47
2.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 50

III. JUSTICE, GLOBAL JUSTICE, AND POVERTY ............................................ 52
3.1. Overview .......................................................................................................... 52
3.2. Justice ............................................................................................................... 53
3.3. Global Justice: The State of Theory ................................................................. 55
ix
Chapter Page

3.4. Political Contract Theory’s Response to Economic Liberalization ................. 56

3.5. Liberalism in Light of Globalization ............................................................... 61
3.6. The Blind Spot of Liberalism ......................................................................... 67
3.7. The Limits of the Contractarian Approach ..................................................... 69
3.8. David Hume: Justice as Contract for the Protection of Property .................... 80

3.9. Aristotle: Distributive Justice and the Suspicion of Profit ............................. 84

3.10. Contract and Virtue: Comparing Hume and Aristotle .................................. 89
3.11. John Stuart Mill: Justice as Sentiment that Precedes Law ............................ 90

3.12. Amartya Sen: Comparative Theories of Justice ............................................ 93
3.13. A Consolidated Vision of Justice Appropriate to the GSUS ........................ 95

3.14. A Responsibility for Justice .......................................................................... 97
3.15. Conclusion .................................................................................................... 100

IV. ALIENATION ...................................................................................................... 102
4.1. Overview ......................................................................................................... 102
4.2. A Definition of Alienation, in Light of the Urban Slums of the Global
South ............................................................................................................. 103

4.3. Arendt as a Critical Reader of Marx ............................................................... 108
4.4. The Importance of the World .......................................................................... 115
4.5. Elaine Scarry on the Making of the World ..................................................... 126
4.6. Alienation as Critical to Theorizing Global Poverty ...................................... 135

V. DIGNITY ............................................................................................................... 148
x