The Slumdog Children of Mumbai and The Last Train Home

Documentary link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTATFx8wszI&ab_channel=GordonNatacha In the documentary films Dispatches: The Slumdog Children of Mumbai and The Last Train Home, we see the everyday life of some young people growing up in some of the most populated countries in the world. In India, we meet Salaam, Deepa, and the twins, Hussan and Hussein. In China, we meet a young girl, Qin Zhang. What is immediately apparent in each of their lives is inequality: there is inequality within each society, shaping the extent to which these young people have the chance to enjoy the fruits of their country’s economic progress. There is also inequality between these societies: the hardships in India are different from those in China. The 85 richest people on earth have more wealth than half of the world’s population combined; people in the worst off countries live substantially shorter lives than people in the most well off countries; human activity since the industrial revolution existentially threatens the health of the planet; China will become the world’s largest economy in the next few years; and Indian democracy grapples with enormous religious and linguistic diversity. In this essay, you have to write an analysis of the inequalities faced by these youth—both the inequalities within and between these societies. In this analysis, you will use your new knowledge of comparative politics to explain why these different inequalities exist. Begin your paper with a brief description of the tangible details of these inequalities, as they appear in the lives of the youth in the films—about one page. In the rest of your paper, you will zoom-out for a historical and comparative analysis. Draw from our course material to explain the broader historical and institutional forces that differently shape the lives of these children. Your essay should be specific and local in its knowledge of the children’ lives and daily experiences but global and historical in its ability to place those lives and daily experiences in a larger political and economic context.