Spaces, Places and States of Mind: a pragmatic ethnography of liminal critique. Eric Paul Weissman A Thesis In the Special Individualized Programs: Social Sciences Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Special Individualized Program) Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada November 14, 2013 © Eric Paul Weissman 2013 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Eric Weissman Entitled: Spaces, Places and States of Mind: a pragmatic ethnography of liminal critique. And submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Dr. Meir Amor____________________________________________Chair Dr. Domenic Beneventi_____________________________________External Examiner Dr. Steven High___________________________________________External to Program Dr. Satoshi Ikeda__________________________________________Examiner Dr. Eric Shragge___________________________________________Examiner Dr. Greg Nielsen___________________________________________Thesis Supervisor Approved by __________________________________________________ Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director ______________ ___________________________________________ Dean of Faculty Abstract Spaces, Places and States of Mind: a pragmatic ethnography of liminal critique. Eric Paul Weissman PhD. Concordia University, 2013. Intentional homeless communities, such as tent camps and shantytowns are increasingly entering political and academic debates about how to solve homelessness. Dignity Village Oregon, the first city licensed, homeless-built democratically self- governed, non-profit transitional housing community in US history, was the result of activists fighting for their rights to housing. It is central to debates about the role of homeless camps in various cities’ housing strategies. The village has been criticized from within and by conventionally housed Oregonians for lack of sustainability, a series of impeachments of leadership, failure to transition people into conventional roles and for the drug epidemic that has much of the membership in its grip. Theorized here as a by- product of the intrinsic logical contradictions of democracy and the exigencies of poverty, villagers’ liminality; their suspension between marginal and conventional statuses has an implicit function in the poverty management strategies of the city by keeping them off the streets and preventing them from organizing further. Liminal space and the critical potential of homeless populations are under-theorized. Employing an interdisciplinary approach open to critical diversity called pragmatic ethnography of critique (PEOC), this dissertation uses video, participant observation and critical and reflexive storytelling from the point of views of participants to understand iii how residents of such communities establish critical commitments to one another and housing activism. Dignity’s twelve-years of struggle are praised by housing activists as evidence of a noble fight for the rights of the poor but critics present it as a lawless, drug infested failure that should be closed. Villagers fear eviction. A solution is difficult to imagine. It is concluded that the village model is less satisfactory than conventional housing programs, but can have a temporary role in stemming homelessness. The village must engage in housing activism in order to empower itself in city politics. A hybridized form of self-governing in which village leadership, homeless advocates and city planners contribute to the political structure of the community is suggested as part of the solution. iv Acknowledgments I wish to thank my sister Andrea and her husband, my special friend, Mark Daniels, for the time and magnanimous support they have given me without reserve; Zev Daniels, my oldest chum, for his support and texts; my mother’s partner, Barry Callaghan who once wrote that he, “was not my father nor should he be, but more than that,” and that you have been; my brother Peter, his wife Michelle and my sister Renay for their support and loyalty; and my many friends and fellow students who have from time to time dared to send a kind word. Importantly I wish to thank my supervisor, Greg Nielsen, and my advisors Eric Shragge and Satoshi Ikeda. Greg pushed me in directions that have made me better than I was before. And Eric and Satoshi were there to ground me when I was deep in aporia. I also want to thank the entire Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia. I feel like you are all mentors and friends; and notably to Darlene, Brad and the other folks at SIP (INDI) and The School of Graduate Studies who really stepped up to support my research when other external agencies had not. I want to thank Bob, and Robert, and a couple of other street guys at the corner of rue Guy and rue St. Catherine, for taking time out of their days to chat with me and share a smile. My friends at St. Leon’s have kept me sane. And Wendy and Heather at Kwamba, and to all the folks at Dignity Village – Thanks! Lastly, and importantly, many thanks to Margaret Keatings who gave me a leg up in the dark times, and has been a close friend of my clan for many years. v Dedication For my Mom. vi Contributors Nigel Dickson took a number of photographs in this dissertation. They are credited as (N. Dickson) and all were taken between July 16 -19 2011. www.nigeldickson.com vii Table of Contents Abstract..…………………………………………………………………………………iii Acknowledgments.………………………………………………………………………..v Dedication………………………………………………………………………………..vi Contributors……………………………………………………………………………..vii Contents...........………………………………………………………………………….viii Figures……………………………………………………………………………………xi Special Figure – Mission Statement Excerpt ……………………………………………xii Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 1.2 The General Context of Dignity Village………………………………..……………..1 1.3 A Thesis……………………………………………………………………………….7 1.4 Portland and Dignity Village – Conditions of Possibility…………………………...10 1.5 Method and Periods of Study………………………………………………………..18 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation…………………………………………………………25 Endnotes – Chapter One: Pages 1-33………………………………………………. 33 Chapter Two: Concepts, Contradictions and Controversies 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….36 2.2 Portland’s Conflict Over Urban Space – Contestation is Power…………………….37 2.3 Who Deserves Community?........................................................................................39 2.4 Structure and Agency, Active and Activist Citizens………………………………...55 2.5 Liminal Democracy: A Conversation with Ibrahim Mubarek……………………....58 2.6 Crisis of Community, Crisis of Democracy………………………………………….68 2.7 Links to Pragmatism…………………………………………………………………75 2.8 Ways of Seeing, Knowing. ………………………………………………………….78 2.9 Endemic Liminality………………………………………………………………….81 2.10 Critical Time and Emancipation……………………………………………………87 2.11 Summary…………………………………………………………………………….92 Endnotes - Chapter Two: Pages 35-94..…………………………………………….95 Chapter Three: Pragmatic Ethnography of Critique Undressed 3.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………98 3.2 Ethnographer as Organizer…………………………………………………………100 3.3 Ethnographic Roots to Post-Structural, Post-Critical. PEOC………………………103 3.4 PEOC has ties to Critical, Reflexive Ethnography…………………………………111 3.5 Reflexivity and Dialogics…………………………………………………………..124 3.6 Visual Ethnography, Time, the Other and the Practical……………………………131 3.7 Summary of Critical roots to Ethnography…............................................................138 3.8 Pragmatism Meets Critical Reflexive Ethnography……………………………......139 viii 3.9 Summary……………………………………………………………………………145 Endnotes - Chapter Three: Pages 98-147…………………………………………..147 Chapter Four: An Auto-Biographical, Autoethnography 4.1 Introduction: Continuity, Literature Review and Shifting Orientations……………152 4.2 Researchers and Commitment to the Field…………………………………………161 4.3 Roots and a Troubled Past………………………………………………………….165 4.4 Toronto, The Streets and Questions, Questions…………………………………….177 4.5 Classic Literature - Legacy of the Culture of Poverty……………………………..184 4.6 Power and Political Subjects……………………………………………….……….192 4.7 Stigma, Power and Affiliation……………………………………………………...195 4.8 Community Organization - Some Basics…………………………………………..214 4.9 Issues of Representation……………………………………………………………229 4.10 Acts, Practices, Citizens and Critical Actors……………………………………...238 4.11 Summary…………………………………………………………………………..249 Endnotes – Chapter Four: Pages 152-250…………..……………………………250 Chapter Five: Critical Approaches 5.1 Introduction ………….……………………………………………………………..258 5.2 Getting Over Latour – Introducing Social Critique………………………………...259 5.3 Critical Philosophical Approaches………………………………………………….266 5.4 Five Categories of Critique - Finding Space to Act………………………………..277 5.5 Critical Sociology…………………………………………………………………..278 5.6 Critical Realism….....................................................................................................284 5.7 Foucault and Genealogical Critique………………………………………………...295 5.8 Governmentality……………………………………………………………………299 5.9 Freedom and Autonomous Actors………………………………………………….306 5.10 Critique, Resistance and Power…………………………………………………...316 5.11 Summary of Foucault……………………………………………………………..328 5.12 Pragmatic Sociology of Critique………………………………………………….330