The ethnography in “With No Direction Home” by Marni Finkelstein was quite astounding. The group Finkelstein studied were street kids no older than the age of 20. Finkelstein did not interview kids over 20 because he said kids under the age of 21 rely on their families for social and financial support. He studied kids under 20 because those groups are most vulnerable to the lack of familial support and wanted to determine whether it will affect their self behaviour. These interviews and observations were constructed in the East Village of New York. The kids interviewed were from all over the place like New Jersey, Northeastern states, Southwest, Midwest, Southwest..etc. This study took place in the year 2005. Finkelstein tried to answer …show more content…
It was through her participant observation technique she was able to do ethnographic interviews. It was through her initial observation of the street kids and informal conversations with key informants that she was able to make the interview questions. Finkelstein met street kids and homeless adults throughout her research. An important individual she met was Scratch. As a 25 year old he was too old to fit the criteria for an interview. Scratch gave a lot of information about the street kids of New York since he has been in the street scene for over 10 years. Scratch helped her recruit her first informants and he also told her what kids were over twenty since he recognizes them. Some of the major findings during this fieldwork was why kids left their homes in the first place. The two main reasons were: searching for a secure environment than home and looking for an adventure/excitement.
Some of the concepts I read about in the textbook were runaways, separation and family organization. To describe street kids Finkelstein used the key point “runaways”. Finkelstein later explained that runaways are not a bad thing. Most kids ran away for various reasons mainly for their benefits. They did not like their home environment for various reasons like being abused, not getting enough care or just seeking an adventure out of their comfort zone. This study helped me understand what separation truly was. These street kids have not seen their parents for
Within the confines of this paper, derived from an immensely valuable article, describing the impoverished young life of an 11-year-old girl named Dasani. A five-part article written in the New York Times turned out to be a masterpiece for learning, which published in 2013. Four different perspective theories were used to analyze young Dasani's personal life, Dasani's Homeless life, and Dasani's life in general. Furthermore, I will be assessing through, Fowler’s Stages of Faith Development, Control Theories, Behavior Settings Theories, and History, Social Structure, and Human Agency/Cultural Hegemony. Using the four different perspectives of theory afforded an exciting opportunity to attempt to understand her life from multiple angles a rather multifaceted approach. The process proves to be quite rewarding. Assuredly, many fresh perspectives were learned, with the paper this in-depth and broad scope allows the opportunity for a deeper learning experience. I learned, without a sound base in a young life that encompass, safety, food, shelter, and semi-functional parents, a child will have a difficult time getting a strong foothold in life. I learned this lesson from, in my opinion, the only way that will stick with you always, and will influence all decisions as well as thoughts. I lived it! Born into a mixed racial family that was devastated from no education. Abuse towards my brother James eight years old, my sister Felicia five years old and myself age of nine, was common to each day. Me being the
Since anthropology is the study of humans past, present, and future; that explains how this book is connected to this subject. Homeless youth are a specific population with their own culture. They represent our future in their own way. These kids represent how our society is and how we portray them. The author studied how these kids survive and how they came to be to where they are. Finkelstein stated “street kids are under the age of 21 who have separated themselves from their families and now live almost entirely on the streets” (Finkelstein 3). This is the similar to the definition of a developing culture. They have developed a population within a population and
They conducted their fieldwork collaboratively, improving their ethnographic technique and clarifying the analysis process through comparing their interpretations and insights. In the midst of their fieldwork, Bourgois and Schonberg learned the “logics of hustling”: when to give, to help, to say no, to be angry. They eschewed conventional research dogmas and its ethical imperatives constructed by intellectuals in isolation from society in order to stay in touch with the reality of life on the street. Bourgois and Schonberg also discuss how they practiced cultural relativism as an essential method to confront this reality productively and without moral judgment or other socially ingrained reactions that prevent the mind from opening to and analyzing environments and people.
Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here is a documentary exploring life in inner-city Chicago during the late 1980’s. The book follows the lives of two African American youth, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, who live in Chicago’s Horner Homes over the course of two years. It tells of a lifestyle that is a reality for many Americans and forces the reader to acknowledge a broken system that so many turn a blind eye toward. Kotlowitz does not sugarcoat the struggles and hardships that the citizens of the inner-city face every single day. The Rivers’ boys, like all the children of inner-cities, experience situations and know of unimaginable horrors that rob them of their innocence and childhoods. Lafeyette and Pharoah have to face and overcome many forces that can change their lives for the worst, such as: gangs and drugs, the social system, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the battle within them to give into the worst of society. Sociological concepts, including: racism, strain theory, and social stratification can explain some of the exploitation of Lafeyette and Pharoah.
The book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz details the challenges two young boy’s face by being raised in the inner city housing project (Henry Horner Homes). These challenges stem from racism, discrimination, the social construction of reality, social location, social class, and the deviance theory, which is due to their location and influences at which causes many youths to lead a life of crime. The book focuses on the Conflict and Symbolic Interaction theories of sociology. What is the true cause of their struggle? Is it the run down housing, lack of education, race, gangs, violence and drugs? I think that all of these play a part into their everyday
The ethnography With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets by Marni Finkelstein, describes the life of street youth in New York City. The ethnography attempts to debunk myths that prior studies have formed of these street youths. The author, Marni Finkelstein is an Anthropologist renowned for her work on urban populations at risk. She graduated from the New School of Social Research in New York City with her PhD in Anthropology. Finkelstein has also conducted studies on substance abuse, sexual assaults and drug use of youths in New York City. Finkelstein achieves her goals, by using a scientific approach when observing the street youths. A few methods she utilizes are similar to that have been previous used but
In today’s society many kids have live within a broken home. For instance the character Jared in The Accent by Ron Rash deals lies with parents that abuse drugs on a daily basis. Kids that live in a stressful environment tend to find themselves creating a fantasy world to escape his or her problems. On the other hand some kids may tend to find a physical place of sanctuary to cope with feelings of distress. Some kids develop distrusting thinking towards mankind which may cause many conflicts between them and society. Furthermore, it’s not healthy for any child to live in a mentally unstable environment.
Within the confines of this text I will be exploring the New York Times article invisible child in the shadows Dasani’s homeless life. Dasani’s life will be examined through the lenses of five different theories. The five theories will be, Health and wealth connection theory, cognitive theory, psychoanalytic theory, attachment theory, and relational theory. To be summed up in the end with the conclusion.
In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and the list goes on. An 11 year old girl, essentially taking care of a whole family, as well as taking care of herself by going to school, receiving an education, and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Elliot captures the life and struggles of a family well under the poverty line, giving us an unprecedented look into what Dasani must do each day not just to grow up in New York City, but to survive.
It is known that the children are unable to determine their life circumstances, their families, and care solely for themselves without supervision. With this being said, children have little to no jurisdiction in determining the situations that they are confronted with. Most of the time when we ponder child poverty we think of low-income families or lack of food in the household, but it extends beyond that to “an environment that is damaging to their mental, physical, emotional and spiritual development” (“Children Under Threat,” 2005). Unfortunately, the prevalence of youth poverty in the United States may seem uncommon to those who are personally unaffected by the crisis; however, statistics show that 15 million children (21% of all children) live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold (Child Poverty, 2017). Moreover, when considering the demographics of impoverished children the following are true: a child in the U.S. has a 1 in 5 chance of being poor and the younger they are the poorer they are likely to be, and a child of color is more than twice as likely to be poor than a White child (Child Poverty, 2017). Research proves that poverty is the single greatest threat to a child’s well-being as it decreases the likelihood of a child graduating from high school, and it increases the chances of them becoming involved with the criminal justice system (Ending Child Poverty Now, 2017).
by Barbara Haworth-Attard, readers have a chance at seeing just how hard life on the streets can be for teenagers. We should study
Due to their lackluster education and social standing it results in a poor childhood which eventually lends to the idea of “street culture”. According to Bourgois in his introduction he states that street culture emerges out of a personal search for dignity, rejection of racism and subjugation, and that it eventually becomes an active agent in personal degradation and community ruin. Since street culture in that region is typically involved in crime, most of the children there have experienced or caused crime at one point in their lives and as a result they develop a sort of social identity based around it.
Reuniting the child with his family is the most desirable outcome of a street living children program. This process must take into consideration both the families’ capabilities and will to receive his child and the child’s wish to go back home. The length of the reunification process could depend also on the time the child has spent on the streets. Children who have just arrived in the street may be convinced to immediately return home since they have not yet had time to get used to street life. On the other hand, children who have been on the street longer must be prepared for the reintegration and accompanied along the whole process. The success of the reunification increases if interventions foresee also a support to the families that consider
Disorganization theory is portrayed by the lives of street oriented families. The stress of bills, providing food to put on the table, and the amount of care for children lead the mothers to become addicted to crack, an alcoholic, and get involved in unhealthy relationships. This is not uncommon in this type of family. Joe dickens is an example of type of lifestyle street families live. His wife sank to the streets and most likely became a prostitute to support her drug habit. He had no choice but to let her go because she was not caring for her children. He tries his best to make sure the children are fed, clothed and bathed. To most he may seem like a responsible parent, but the people who live on the block see what happens on the inside of the home. They witness him yelling at the children, leaves them unsupervised at various hours of the day and night. He is also assumed of being a drug dealer from the amount of people that come and go from his home at strange hours. “These children are learning by example the values of toughness and self absorption: to be loud, boisterous, proudly crude, and uncouth- in short, street.” (Anderson, 47) The model to these children is a huge factor in differential reinforcement theory which states that much of the child’s social learning takes place while imitating and modeling the behavior of these role models. The children will soon gravitate towards the streets and fall into
This study looks at the degree of commitment between youth and street children and the actors trying to help them. These researchers look at the ways these helpers try to understand these street children so as to know they can provide programs and intervene in their lives for the better. Results of this study shows that these youths and street children use the programs and services given to them in their own way, while the helpers also try to direct them on how to use these services by modifying the programs. This interaction between youth and street children and their helpers greatly contribute in keeping them on the streets. Moreover, these researchers has us understand that the perception and views of these youth and street children are always taken into consideration to ensure that the programs implemented are well planned and suitable for