Pierre-Olivier Weiss - "In the shadow of the Pantheon: ethnographing the homeless in Rome".
Article written by Pierre-Olivier Weiss in the magazine Land and works2020/1-2 (No. 36-37), pages 109 to 135
Summary:
This article presents the findings of a three-month ethnography of a group of homeless people in Rome during the winter of 2004-2005. The aim is to describe the social logics at work within this group, in particular the relationships of solidarity and the occupation of public spaces. This ground-breaking study is particularly interesting in that it describes a group of homeless people and, above all, the forms of solidarity they develop and the way they occupy space in an Italy that has seen an explosion in migration over the last ten years. In particular, the article seeks to show that these homeless people undergo a particular socialisation process, as well as spatial occupation logics that forge the identity of individuals. Spatial reconfigurations play a part in changing the meaning given to them by their occupants.
Plan :
Entry into the field and data collection method
Stories of the homeless: a group with many faces
From Michel le Belge to "Papa Michel
Michel the German, the party animal
Nicola: the street as a transitional phase
Sroopy, the destitute
One for all, all for one!
Spatialising and characterising interactions
The street: the logic of occupying space
Discussion and conclusion
