A Life Lived on the Corner

A LIFE LIVED ON THE CORNER By Bronwyn Jewell McGovern A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Victoria University of Wellington 2013 This thesis is dedicated to two brothers Warrick McGovern 24/10/67 – 11/05/94 Bernett Hana 08/02/57 – 15/01/12 Both of whom the street took too soon In memory of Brother, an independent spirit, impossible to classify Abstract This thesis explores the everyday life of Brother, a well-known street dweller and local identity, who lives everyday life on a busy street corner in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Brother’s way of doing ‘being ordinary’ attracts strong public curiosity, media interest, and monitoring by informal and formal social control mechanisms, including medical intervention. This research provides a comprehensive account of what can happen to those at the margins who dare, or are impelled, to do things differently. My research is inspired by the longstanding tradition of street corner sociology, and grounded within the sociology of everyday life orientation. My street ethnography involved participant observation over a three-and-a-half year period. In that time, I observed Brother and other street people, capturing the depth and nuanced complexities of a life lived in the open. Central to this thesis is an examination of the ways in which wider social structures and institutions bear upon the local micro-setting, in particular how classification processes act to ‘make, remake, and unmake’ people. Three core concepts of space, body, and social interaction are explored to examine, through the situatedness of everyday talk and social action, how social meanings are locally produced and understood. I argue that by developing spatial, bodily, and interactional methods, Brother has established organisational and social capacities, and lines of conduct, that are firmly founded in autonomous actions. Through his rejection of ascribed ‘homeless’ membership and his clear embracement of a street lifestyle, Brother’s street life is shown to subvert and trouble normative understandings, while engendering and maintaining a lived sense of home in the city he calls his whare [house]. My research contributes an Aotearoa New Zealand perspective to the international sociological street corner landscape, and provides a Wellington perspective to the emerging domestic literature on street life. More broadly, my study aims to stimulate critical sociological reflection regarding different modes of being and belonging in the world and how we, as a society, respond to this. v Acknowledgements Brother, I am in your debt for granting me the privilege of ‘letting me in’ to learn how life is lived on the street corner. The big (sorta) book is finally finished. Kevin, huge thanks for your insightful guidance, positive encouragement, and intellectual engagement. If nothing else, I’m confident I’ve mastered apostrophes’. Michael, Jessie, Grace, Eilish, and Ruby – in the order you began to ground, define, and enrich my everyday life – you are my motivation. Thanks for being so patient. Simon, thanks for your support, especially for picking me up from fieldwork at 3am when I had a flat car battery, no credit on my cell phone, and no money in my wallet. You are my knight in a shining Mazda. To the postgrads who made everyday life on the 9th floor a homely experience – especially Rachael Fabish, Owen Hughes, Riki Mihaere, and Dionne Steven – thanks, friendly faces and words made the difference. Special thanks to: Kate Amore, who I know will long regret passing up the ultimate ‘Big ups’; Sarah Wright, who has been on a long sociological and personal journey with me; Diana Watt, for her effervescent friendship, ‘writer’s massages’ and ‘real world’ reminders; Belinda Brown, whose friendship includes the stunning photography that brings life and vitality to this work; Stephen Jinks for bringing his humour and tarot cards with him on his trips back home; and Sandra Grey and Adam Meers who remain loyal constants ‘in my corner’. Last, but not least, I am grateful for the support of a VUW Scholarship and the consistent work opportunities afforded to me from within VUW and from the Shore & Whāriki Research Centre at Massey University in Auckland. vi Contents Abstract v Acknowledgements vi Contents vii List of figures viii Prologue x Chapter One Introduction 1 Chapter Two Researching on the margins of homelessness 11 Chapter Three Conceptualising an everyday street life 31 Chapter Four Doing street corner sociology 48 Chapter Five Interpreting Wellington’s street scene 83 Chapter Six Space matters 126 Chapter Seven The socio-spatial body made meaningful 161 Chapter Eight Maintaining ‘elbow room’ in a publicly lived life 202 Chapter Nine Home street home 237 Epilogue 255 References 260 vii List of figures Prologue:1 Farewell messages of love, peace, and respect ..................................................... x Prologue:2 Street shrine ......................................................................................................... xi Figure 4:1 Brother, cornering everyday life .......................................................................... 48 Figure 4:2 Observing from ‘my throne’ at the northern entrance to Cuba Mall ................... 58 Figure 4:3 ‘Stepping out’ – a late night hīkoi ....................................................................... 63 Figure 5:1 Wellington’s Bucket Man and Blanket Man (Brother) ........................................ 95 Figure 5:2 Internet wit ........................................................................................................... 98 Figure 5:3 Comments posted on Blanket Man’s Myspace page ......................................... 100 Figure 5:4 A British example of the championed ‘tramp’ status of an individual .............. 101 Figure 5:5 Brother Sharp and one of Westwood’s ‘Homeless Chic’ models at Milan Fashion Week ................................................................................................... 103 Figure 5:6 One pedestrian’s view, expressed in a note ....................................................... 106 Figure 5:7 A letter added to signage outside Wellington’s homeless men’s shelter playfully elevates the status of the city’s poorest, most marginalised citizens .............................................................................................................. 107 Figure 5:8 Glover Park ........................................................................................................ 110 Figure 5:9 Hoardings erected around Glover Park, showing a yesteryear tramp and referencing homeless occupants ....................................................................... 112 Figure 6:1 Brother domestically appropriating a city footpath as home space ................... 127 Figure 6:2 Signage outside Wellington’s Public bar, located on one of Brother’s primary home corners ....................................................................................... 133 Figure 6:3 Street sleeping ................................................................................................... 136 Figure 6:4 Courtenay Place and its immediate environs, marking Brother’s city-as- whare spaces ..................................................................................................... 142 Figure 6:5 ‘Artist’s’ impression of a laser illuminating the ‘Home of Ben’ ....................... 143 Figure 6:6 Brother under police arrest on the Public Bar corner ........................................ 150 Figure 6:7 Brother exercising passive resistance ................................................................ 150 Figure 6:8 Representational ‘narrative space’ ..................................................................... 157 Figure 6:9 Logos of the organisations that the poster’s creator considers played a role in Brother’s committal ...................................................................................... 158 Figure 6:10 A message that was later added to the poster by another member of the public ................................................................................................................ 158 Figure 7:1 Occupying city space as intimate ‘sunning space’ ............................................ 161 Figure 7:2 Expressing the self through a material artefact associated with the body ......... 173 Figure 7:3 Brother’s ‘contracted’ body outside the ANZ Bank .......................................... 175 Figure 7:4 The horizontal, dirty, semi-naked presentation of the body in public ............... 177 Figure 8:1 A man plays his flute in Cuba Mall beside Brother ........................................... 202 viii Figure 8:2 ‘Blanket Man’ impersonators paying Brother a street visit as they make their way to the sports stadium ......................................................................... 211 Figure 8:3 Sevens revellers prodding, poking, and photographing Brother as he sleeps ................................................................................................................ 212 Figure 8:4 Stooping to pick up a cigarette butt ................................................................... 221 Figure 8:5 Brother’s street enactment of the ‘Māori side-step’ .......................................... 225 Figure 9:1 Brother dozing outside Fix – the new location he was forced to take up when prevented from occupying Primary location 1a during

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