Representing Homelessness - Proceedings of the British Academy by Owen Clayton Hardcover

About the Book

Representing Homelessness analyses the representation and self-representation of homelessness. The volume features research from the Arts, Humanities, Sciences and the Social Sciences, as well as writings by people with lived experience of homelessness.

Book Synopsis

This multidisciplinary volume combines academic research with first-hand accounts of homelessness. It describes how people affected by homelessness are perceived as objects through the process of Othering. It also provides examples of how such Othering can be overcome through collaboration, and by providing a platform for people affected by homelessness.

The volume argues that stereotypical representations of homelessness, while useful for charity fundraising, do more harm than good. It concludes that organisations tasked with dealing with homelessness must include greater representation from people with direct 'lived experience' of homelessness.

About the Author

Owen Clayton is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Lincoln. His specialism is late nineteenth and early-twentieth century British and US American literature, and his current research interests are the representation of vagrancy. He is currently working on his second monograph, entitled Vagabonds, Tramps, and Hobos: the Literature and Culture of American Transiency. His first monograph, Literature and Photography in Transition, 1850-1915, was published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2015.