Shame, Poverty and Development Studies

Development studies have been slow to explore and embrace the burgeoning field of emotions research, yet increasingly development interventions are adopting emotions-based strategies, including the deliberate use of shaming. This article reviews the implications of a new three volume collection on poverty and shame for development studies, arguing that it offers a fruitful avenue for research that focuses on understanding the lived experiences, perceptions and feelings of the poor, as opposed to conventional uncompassionate qualitative analysis.