Extant accounts of multidimensional poverty have continued to neglect the extent at which severe deprivations in adequate information usage and interpretation are a legitimate feature of poverty. I propose a new hermeneutic theory of information poverty that combines the insights from philosophical and development economic theories, is complementary to extant multidimensional poverty metrics, and is illustrated with a detailed case study concerning “persons with albinism” in contemporary Tanzania. I argue that this theory allows for partially measurable features of information poverty, is applicable in policy contexts, and should be of concern to, among others, advocates of the capabilities approach in political philosophy.
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