Braving the Street: The Anthropology of Homelessness (review)

The study of homelessness has increased in the last two decades, as the phenomenon itself has spread and taken on increasing salience in the public imagination. According to Glasser and Bridgman, however,

with several exceptions, anthropological research on homelessness has been relegated to the sidelines of public-policy discussions, adding only colorful descriptions of people on the streets (p. 113).

Braving the Street represents an intervention in this situation by outlining the direct relevance of anthropology to both the understanding and alleviation of homelessness. In a slim, easily accessible volume that speaks to a primarily non-anthropological audience, Glasser and Bridgman bring anthropology to bear on key questions related to homelessness: who is homeless and why, how people survive homelessness, and how the homeless can move to situations of secure housing.

Glasser and Bridgman point to two unique features of the anthropological endeavor that render it particularly relevant to the study and relief of homelessness: its emphasis on "the native's point of view," and its proclivity to situate particular practices and beliefs within the wider social, cultural, political, and economic contexts of their occurrence. With these emphases in mind, and given their target audience of practitioners, Glasser and Bridgman utilize a review approach to the literature on homelessness, summarizing key themes, findings, and applications relevant to the North American context. Although the literature on Canada and (primarily) the U.S. is their main focus, Glasser and Bridgman also draw on studies of homelessness in India, Colombia, Chile, and the U.K.

In Chapter One, the authors provide an overview of the anthropological approach to homelessness, and take note of several issues the approach generates. In particular, their cross-cultural, situationally specific analysis of homelessness points to a variety of ways in which it can be tackled, both analitically and practically. What constitutes homelessness, for instance, is not easily agreed upon, and any operational definition will have "a tremendous impact on the numbers and characteristics of the people included in the definition" (p. 3). Such numbers and characteristics will, in turn, have an impact on measures taken to relieve homelessness.

In Chapter Two Glasser and Bridgman survey the literature on specific categories of homeless people-women, men, children, youth-in terms of their risks of homelessness, the particular configurations that their homelessness takes, and the problems they face while "outside," for example, substance abuse, violence, and mental illness. In the second half of the chapter the authors examine different census attempts to enumerate homeless people, with India cited as the most successful example. Finally, representations of homeless people in the U.S. and Colombia are discussed, in regard to which Glasser and Bridgman raise the very important question of who is in the position of constructing such representations.

Chapter Three, "Explaining Homelessness" begins with a discussion of the "personal pathology" and "structural" understandings of homelessness, the two main schools of thought addressing the whys of homelessness. Building on the holistic emphasis of anthropology, Glasser and Bridgman prefer an amalgamation of the two, as represented in "ecological" models that take into consideration not only the individual, but also the community, institutional, organizational, and cultural contexts of poverty and homelessness. There is no single reason for the upsurge in homelessness, which is linked by the authors to economics, the demolition of affordable housing in inner cities, deinstitutionalization of psychiatric inpatients, gentrification, and welfare reform, among other factors. Similarly complex analyses that take into consideration the multitudinous factors contributing to homelessness as well as the various needs of homeless individuals must also be brought to bear on efforts to relieve homelessness. If they are not, "social policies and programs . . .[may] exacerbate that which they were intended to alleviate" (p. 54). The insulation of homeless people in shelters, for example, may serve to cut them off from mainstream peer group and lifestyles.

In Chapter Four Glasser and Bridgman review and analyze ethnographic studies of the experience of homelessness. These studies exemplify the emic approach valorized by the authors...