Thinking ‘Small’ and the Understanding of Poverty: Maymana and Mofizul’s story

Recent thinking on poverty and poverty reduction tend to be ‘big’ in terms of ideas, units of analysis, datasets, plans and ambitions. While recognizing the benefits of such approaches, this paper argues that researchers should counterbalance and supplement big ideas through ‘thinking small’. In this context, the life history of a single household in Bangladesh, that of Maymana and Mofizul, confirms much current thinking about persistent poverty in that country: major health ‘shocks’ can impoverish families, and social exclusion, based on gender, age and disability, keeps people poor. This story also raises challenges to contemporary orthodoxies, and new insights, such as plans for poverty reduction that underestimate the role that the family and informal agents play in welfare provision and exaggerate the role of poverty reduction professionals. In conclusion, the paper points to the personal agency of Mofizul and Maymana — they may be down but they are not out.