The inside of the street: the dwelling body in the narratives of Black women living on the streets
Black women, homelessness, body map, life stories, intersectional markers
This doctoral dissertation aims to understand the meanings that Black women living on the streets attribute to their experiences and life stories through body mapping, a creative and participatory qualitative research methodology. As such, considering the subjectivity of Black women living on the streets is fundamental, with the intention of understanding the intersections of race, gender, class and sexuality, among others, that traverse each of their life histories. The study’s theoretical foundation is anchored in the epistemological frameworks of clinical and social psychology, from both an intersectional and decolonial perspective, based in Black feminism and anti-racist discussions. This framing also contributes to the very purpose of writing as a consideration of the body as a political site, and Black corporeality as the relationship that encompasses ancestry, orality, language, memory, affect, aesthetics, and politics. Sometimes, the body is the only home for Black women living on the streets, and the way racism operates crosses the symbolic dimension that can directly affect these Black bodies, producing psychological and emotional effects of various kinds. Therefore, the work begins by situating the paths that led the author to this research project. Following this, there is a critical contextualization of the gaze directed toward Black women living at the intersection of these markers that originate from the colonial and slaveholding periods but which are updated in contemporary times. From there, we enter into the discussion of Black women living on the streets and their ways of subjectifying their existence through narratives and their own bodies. This project’s methodological framework is based on critical qualitative research, reflexivity, and the researcher’s own subjectivity, all foundational to how fieldwork was conducted. The first part of the field consisted of going on ethnographic incursions to the streets with the intention of getting closer to homeless women and forming a bond.
Subsequently, the body maps were applied individually and in a private space. Two body maps were applied and entirety analyzed. The first being from Solange, a Black woman, about 40 years old, who has a young daughter. The second body map is of Luna, 36, a Black woman who lives with her partner. Both of them had their identity preserved and fictitious names were adopted during the study. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, several obstacles emerged, which led to an early interruption of fieldwork. All field visits were recorded in a field diary, which consisted of photographs, random notes, and video and audio recordings (previously authorized) to obtain robust material for data analysis, using a Reflective Thematic Analysis. The work also depends on the author’s notes, which reflect her own experience as a Black body also present in the research space. Finally, this dissertation demonstrates that Black women living on the streets present a density to their narratives that is rich and complex where they perceive themselves as the protagonists of their own story, feeling in their own bodies the powers and challenges that these social and intersectional markers demand of them daily.