Reworking Homelessness: Dignity and Power at two Oahu Shelters

Abstract

Abstract: Reworking Homelessness – Dignity and Power at two Oahu Shelters What strategies does the homeless population of Oahu use to negotiate power difference and dignity at homeless shelters? This thesis is based on fieldwork conducted on Oahu, Hawaii, spring 2013. It is an anthropological account of how the homeless people at two shelters – a Family Shelter and a Men s shelter – act in ways as to cope with their situation. Who are the homeless? What does staying at a shelter do to you? How are power imbalance acted out, and how is it being challenged? Most importantly: how do the residents at the two shelters uphold a sense of dignity and respect while being residents? Homeless is a term that not only holds the practical fact of being without permanent shelter, but is laden with moral judgment, especially in the US where one is thought to be responsible for own success or failure. It can therefore be difficult to identify with the term, as well as for others to grasp the diversity of the homeless population. Stereotypical ideas about the homeless are challenged when reviewing the people having to resort to shelter services: it is not just the alcoholic or mentally ill person who seek help, but families who are in precarious positions. Volunteering at the homeless shelters showed the differences in behavior and sources for respect utilized by the residents. At the family shelter, many used the ability to avoid relations to the staff and volunteers and to complain about food and services to keep a sense of dignity and feeling of autonomy. Through the expression of discontent, residents at the family shelter challenged the power relations especially prominent in the giver/receiver of gifts relationship they experience. The men and unsheltered use a completely different strategy, focusing on politeness, friendliness and emphasizing good behavior as to gain respect from staff members and volunteers. The means used to achieve respect and to even out power imbalance are very different, but serve the same purpose. This thesis investigates the issues revolving around being defined as homeless, of seeking dignity and of the power relations that exist as dynamic components of shelter life experience.

Abstract: Reworking Homelessness – Dignity and Power at two Oahu Shelters What strategies does the homeless population of Oahu use to negotiate power difference and dignity at homeless shelters? This thesis is based on fieldwork conducted on Oahu, Hawaii, spring 2013. It is an anthropological account of how the homeless people at two shelters – a Family Shelter and a Men s shelter – act in ways as to cope with their situation. Who are the homeless? What does staying at a shelter do to you? How are power imbalance acted out, and how is it being challenged? Most importantly: how do the residents at the two shelters uphold a sense of dignity and respect while being residents? Homeless is a term that not only holds the practical fact of being without permanent shelter, but is laden with moral judgment, especially in the US where one is thought to be responsible for own success or failure. It can therefore be difficult to identify with the term, as well as for others to grasp the diversity of the homeless population. Stereotypical ideas about the homeless are challenged when reviewing the people having to resort to shelter services: it is not just the alcoholic or mentally ill person who seek help, but families who are in precarious positions. Volunteering at the homeless shelters showed the differences in behavior and sources for respect utilized by the residents. At the family shelter, many used the ability to avoid relations to the staff and volunteers and to complain about food and services to keep a sense of dignity and feeling of autonomy. Through the expression of discontent, residents at the family shelter challenged the power relations especially prominent in the giver/receiver of gifts relationship they experience. The men and unsheltered use a completely different strategy, focusing on politeness, friendliness and emphasizing good behavior as to gain respect from staff members and volunteers. The means used to achieve respect and to even out power imbalance are very different, but serve the same purpose. This thesis investigates the issues revolving around being defined as homeless, of seeking dignity and of the power relations that exist as dynamic components of shelter life experience.