This book provides an ethnographic examination of the everyday lives and struggles of street-involved youth in Canada. Based on fieldwork conducted throughout downtown London, Ontario, it features rich ethnographic data as well as theoretical insights informed by continental philosophy. The chapters highlight informants’ experiences of poverty, addiction and poor mental health, and reflect on their relation to the state – including participation in the provincial government’s programme of social assistance provision (Ontario Works). The author considers how social, cultural, political, economic and existential factors influence and shape human subjectivity. They explore the notion of becoming and offer a re-evaluation of individual agency and action, specifically related to the lived experience of informants who are seen as wounded bricoleurs. The study is relevant to anthropologists, sociologists, geographers and others with an interest in homelessness.
By:
Mark S. Dolson
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 470g
ISBN: 9781032509228
ISBN 10: 1032509228
Series: Routledge Studies in Anthropology
Pages: 156
Publication Date: 11 March 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction;1 Neoliberal Deformations of the Social;2 Ethnographic Fieldwork on the Homefront;3 “We’re Not Really Living, We’re Surviving”; 4 Life Finds a Way… On the Street; 5 “Fucking with People’s Heads”; 7 Creative Release; 8 Taking Stock: Stories as Social Action; Conclusion: Life—Pitch, Yaw, Roll…and Contradiction?
Mark S. Dolson (PhD Western University) is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
