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Ethnography of Women's Experiences with Homelessness in Denver, Colorado

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Ethnography of Women's Experiences with Homelessness in Denver, Colorado University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 Can You See Me? Ethnography of Women's Experiences with Homelessness in Denver, Colorado Taylor L. Morrison University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Morrison, Taylor L., "Can You See Me? Ethnography of Women's Experiences with Homelessness in Denver, Colorado" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1334. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1334 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. CAN YOU SEE ME? ETHNOGRAPHY OF WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH HOMELESSNESS IN DENVER, COLORADO __________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts __________ by Taylor Morrison August 2017 Advisor: Alejandro Cerón Author: Taylor Morrison Title: CAN YOU SEE ME? ETHNOGRAPHY OF WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES WITH HOMELESSNESS IN DENVER, COLORADO Advisor: Alejandro Cerón Degree Date: August 2017 ABSTRACT Following the economic crisis in 2008, the United States, and Denver in particular, saw a considerable rise in the number of people considered homeless. Despite an increase in the population, little anthropological research has been done to understand the experiences of street-embodied individuals and the services available to them. Through participant-observation, life-history interviews, and photovoice, I closely studied the lives of two women experiencing homelessness and used interpretive phenomenological analysis to analyze the data. Analyzed through Foucault’s biopolitics, technologies of the self, and panopticism, as well as Goffman’s presentation of the self, I make the case that the homeless experience is marked by social exclusion, which I found to be internalized and resisted in the lives of two women in a variety of ways. These findings are relevant to service providers in the homeless industry, in the way they approach their interactions with people experiencing homelessness. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to the University of Denver Department of Anthropology for this opportunity. Alejandro, I am especially indebted to you for your continued encouragement throughout this entire process. To my Cat Gang - thank you for your unwavering friendship, for all the “pokes” to keep working, and for keeping me grounded. To Lauren, Aaron, Kevin and Julia- thank you for giving up your time for late- night edits and for continuously reminding me why this thesis matters. To Mom, Dad, and Phyl - thank you for encouraging me to pursue this degree and for never giving up on me even when I wanted to give up on myself. Finally, thank you to Carmen, Veronica, and Jessica. You have forever changed my life, and I am grateful that you entrusted me with your stories. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 Nature of Project ..................................................................................................... 2 Justification ............................................................................................................. 2 Overview of Thesis ................................................................................................. 3 Chapter Two: Background .................................................................................................. 5 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 5 Overview of Homelessness in the United States .................................................... 5 Homelessness and Social Exclusion Policies ......................................................... 6 State of Homelessness in Denver ............................................................................ 8 Women's Emergency Shelter ................................................................................ 11 WES Residents.......................................................................................... 11 Shelter Setting ........................................................................................... 13 Chapter Three: Literature Review .................................................................................... 17 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 17 Early Anthropological Approaches to Homelessness in the United States .......... 17 The Homeless Identity .......................................................................................... 20 Foucault: Panopticism and Technologies of Self.................................................. 22 Service Providers and the Homeless ..................................................................... 24 Abuses ................................................................................................................... 26 Affective Experiences of Homelessness ............................................................... 27 Photovoice and Homelessness .............................................................................. 28 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 30 Chapter Four: Project Design............................................................................................ 31 Research Question ................................................................................................ 31 Study Population ................................................................................................... 31 Recruitment and Consent ...................................................................................... 32 Ethical Considerations .......................................................................................... 33 Methods................................................................................................................. 34 Participant-Observation ............................................................................ 34 Photovoice................................................................................................. 35 Life History Interviews ............................................................................. 36 Qualitative Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 37 Chapter Five: Jessica......................................................................................................... 40 iv First Encounter ...................................................................................................... 41 Interview ............................................................................................................... 43 Last Encounter ...................................................................................................... 56 Chapter Six: Veronica ....................................................................................................... 59 First Encounter ...................................................................................................... 60 Interview ............................................................................................................... 61 Final Encounter ..................................................................................................... 75 Chapter Seven: Analysis and Discussion .......................................................................... 78 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 78 Internalizations of Social Exclusion ..................................................................... 78 Pathologizing Addiction ........................................................................... 79 Embracing Homeless Identity ................................................................... 81 Affirming Dependency ............................................................................. 83 Hoping for Identity Transformation .......................................................... 85 Resistance Against Social Exclusion .................................................................... 86 Objecting to Infantilization ....................................................................... 87 Coping through Distancing ....................................................................... 89 Asserting Pre-Homeless Self .................................................................... 91 Concluding Thoughts ...........................................................................................
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