My Father the Homeless Guy: An Autoethnographic Account of Identity Negotiation among Daughters of Homeless Men

Abstract

The homeless are generally categorized by the housed as being either worthy or unworthy, which is dependent on whether the homeless person is seen at fault for their precarious lifestyle. Regardless, the “inner lives” (e.g. relationships, self-worth, culture, et cetera) of the homeless are rarely considered (Snow & Anderson, 1987; Sommerville, 2013). Accordingly, those associated with the homeless also feel the side-effects of the stigmatization of the visibly homeless. This study considers the perspectives of daughters of homeless men, namely men who are deemed “unworthy.” Using an autoethnographical approach, life-story interviews, and discourse analysis, this study investigates identity negotiation among 10 women. The identifiers, abandoned, caretaker, and wounded betrayer frequently alluded to in the narratives of this study, describe how daughters conceptualize their own and their fathers’ moral identity. I aim to provide a previously unconsidered perspective of homelessness in order to challenge current perceptions of the so-called unworthy poor.