Professional Lives, Personal Struggles : Ethics and Advocacy in Research on Homelessness

This edited volume illuminates critical research issues through the particular lens of homelessness, bringing together some of the leading scholars in the field, from an array of disciplines and perspectives, to explore this condition of marginalization and the ethical dilemmas that arise within it. The authors provide insights into the realities and challenges of social research that will guide students, activists, practitioners, policymakers, and service providers, as well as both novice and seasoned researchers in fields of inquiry ranging from anthropology and sociology to geography and cultural studies. Although many texts have explored the subject of homelessness, few have attempted to encapsulate and examine the complex process of researching the issue as a phenomenon unto itself. Professional Lives, Personal Struggles examines the many challenges of conducting ethical research on homelessness, as well as the potential for positive change and transformation, through the deeply personal accounts of scholars and advocates with extensive experience working in the field. Introduction: rediscovering homelessness and ourselves / Randall Amster Advocacy and identity Social justice, ethics, and advocacy in street research : a personal accounting / Talmadge Wright The advocate researcher / Rob Rosenthal Homelessness and drag / Kathleen Arnold Writing the streets : dilemmas of depiction / Trenna Valado Relationships and ethics Planning and managing ethical dilemmas in homelessness research / Michael Rowe A "buddy researcher" prospects, limitations, and ethical considerations in ethnographic research on homeless people in berlin / Jürgen von Mahs Ethics and studying homelessness : tales from the field / Kurt Borchard Weapons of the weak, by the weak, and for the weak : negotiating power between and among homeless persons and service providers / Julie Adkins Research and transformation Do we really need more research on homelessness? : an autoethnographic exploration of ethics, advocacy, and exasperation / Vin Lyon-Callo Homelessness as "internal displacement" : scholarship and activism in post-Katrina New Orleans / Randall Amster Do (no) harm : homelessness and personal transformation / David Cook On the politics and ethics of "using" "the homeless" in social justice research / Don Mitchell and Lynn Staeheli Conclusion: synthesizing the personal and professional / Trenna Valado Bibliography Index About the contributors. This is the first book published that specifically examines questions of ethics and advocacy that arise in conducting research on homelessness, exploring the issues through the deeply personal experiences of some of the field's leading scholars. By examining the central queries from a broad range of perspectives, the authors presented here draw upon years of rich investigations to generate a framework that will be instructive for researchers across a wide spectrum of areas of inquiry.