News & Features Feedback
New This WeekAround TownMusicFilmArtTheaterNews & FeaturesFood & DrinkAstrology
  HOME
NEW THIS WEEK
EDITORS' PICKS
LISTINGS
NEWS & FEATURES
MUSIC
FILM
ART
BOOKS
THEATER
DANCE
TELEVISION
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHIVES
LETTERS
PERSONALS
CLASSIFIEDS
ADULT
ASTROLOGY
PHOENIX FORUM DOWNLOAD MP3s

  E-Mail This Article to a Friend
RANT
A new concept in slumming
BY CAMILLE DODERO

" A theme park for poverty housing, " is how Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International, described his organization’s brand-new six-acre Global Village & Discovery Center, in a Reuters report. " You’ll come out of the center and walk right into a slum. You’ll see the kind of pitiful living conditions so many people in the world have. "

A theme park of destitution? A respectable nonprofit dedicated to constructing affordable homes for the financially needy, Habitat for Humanity will open its " Living in Poverty Area, " an assortment of 30 slum replicas, this Saturday, at its headquarters in Americus, Georgia. In addition to the fake ghetto, there’ll be examples of Habitat’s own rebuilt edifices — a before-and-after juxtaposition meant to symbolize the full completion of Habitat’s work. And although one-third of the organization’s endeavors take place here at home, there will be no American representation of poverty at the grand opening — that will come soon, according to the Habitat spokesman, in the form of a " shack. "

I’ve volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, and yet the entire notion of mock-up barrios is entirely unsettling. Are we really so rich that we have to construct fake versions of deficiency? " We’re trying to make it as authentic as we can, " promises project architect Trish Stoops in a promotional video streamed from Habitat’s Web site. But really, how authentic it that? Wild boars, flea-bitten donkeys, and angry goats running around? Mephitic waste pumped onto the premises? A casting call for " exotic-looking " toddlers to spend the days pantsless and waving at tourists?

Does America need a slum theme park because it’s so insular and ignorant? " I think Americans know [about international poverty], but it’s certainly a nice illustration, " says Habitat spokesman Duane Bates. So why does a $4 million–plus tourist attraction need to be built if Americans are already informed about impecuniousness? " They’ve maybe seen it on TV at some point, but this is a good 3-D illustration that they can experience firsthand. "

Therein lies the problem. We’re a culture of ersatz examples. We know about international poverty because we’ve seen it on television, spliced between a bloated Sally Struthers and a Coke advertisement. We learn about court from Law & Order. We learn about Africa from The Lion King. We learn about Boston from Ally McBeal. We learn about African impoverishment from a theme park.

" My visceral reaction is to say the more you can highlight the discrepancies of the world, the better, " says John Drew, executive vice-president of Action for Boston Community Development, a local human-services agency that works with low-income individuals. " But why they came up with this thing, I don’t have a clue. I’m not even sure that it’s going to have the desired effect that they may think it has. I don’t think people will want to see a slum. "

So is the Global Village & Discovery Center supposed to be fun? " It’s meant to be educational and informative, " says Bates. " Course, we hope people come out and enjoy themselves too. "

Issue Date: June 6 - 12, 2003
Back to the News and Features table of contents.
  E-Mail This Article to a Friend