Cooper Amy
Muhlenberg College, Sociology/Anthropology House, 2230 Chew Street, Allentown, PA, 18104, USA,
Cult Med Psychiatry. 2015 Mar;39(1):162-85. doi: 10.1007/s11013-014-9405-8.
This article documents temporalities of homelessness as experienced by many homeless people today, those living in the midst of an urban "services ghetto"-where social service organizations abound, but such organizations fail to coordinate the provision or timing of services, producing an incoherent multiplicity of offerings and schedules. I analyzed distinct but related temporal modes by which institutional timetables controlled homeless women's existence, what I call empty time and overscheduled time. The paradoxes of institutionalized waiting and strict yet inconsistent timetables exacted profound material and psychological tolls. For homeless women in Chicago, many of whom experienced symptoms of severe mental illness, simply securing their daily needs was such a time-consuming endeavor that they had to focus on short-term self-preservation rather than seeking stable employment or housing. Using anthropological theories of self and subjectivity, I argue that what was at stake for many women was more than the exhaustion of shelter life-negotiating institutional timetables also threatened their sense of dignity and humanity. Through the everyday patterning of women's time, non-profit agencies whose stated aim was to eliminate homelessness paradoxically frustrated women's efforts to escape life on the streets. I conclude the analysis with policy suggestions to address these problems.
本文记录了当今许多无家可归者所经历的无家可归的时间状况，这些人生活在城市的“服务贫民区”之中，那里社会服务组织众多，但这些组织未能协调服务的提供或时间安排，导致服务种类繁多且时间表杂乱无章。我分析了机构时间表控制无家可归女性生活的不同但相关的时间模式，即我所称的空闲时间和过度安排的时间。制度化等待的悖论以及严格但不一致的时间表造成了巨大的物质和心理代价。对于芝加哥的无家可归女性来说，她们中的许多人都有严重精神疾病的症状，仅仅是满足日常需求就耗费了大量时间，以至于她们不得不专注于短期的自我保护，而不是寻求稳定的就业或住房。运用关于自我和主体性的人类学理论，我认为对许多女性来说，利害攸关的不仅仅是庇护所生活的疲惫——应对机构时间表还威胁到了她们的尊严感和人性。通过女性时间的日常模式，那些宣称旨在消除无家可归现象的非营利机构却反常地挫败了女性摆脱街头生活的努力。我在分析结尾提出了应对这些问题的政策建议。
