“It’s sweeter where the bruise is”: making sense of the experience of family homelessness in a community–campus partnership

Pushed by Angels and Hellbent on Better

“…Narrative qualitative research (Beverley 2000) shares characteristics with a hermeneutic, ''phronetic'' research approaches (e.g., Herda 1999;Sandy 2013;Spicker 2011) where there is an emphasis on listening to the expertise of individuals with diverse life experiences, deliberating together to define good policies, and allowing for flexibility in methods based on what the situation requires. Spicker (2011:17) emphasizes the phronetic turn in research and public policy involves ''experiential knowledge, testimony and voice.''…”

“…The theoretical frame of hermeneutical conversation (Herda 1999; Sandy 2013) guided this qualitative research process, including the research design, decisions about reciprocal access to data, and narratives presented in this article. Qualitative methods are appropriate for ecological inquiry (Toro et al 1991), and this approach encourages collaborative, potentially empowering relationships with participants as coresearchers to support them in making positive changes in their lives and in society in ways that resonate with a feminist orientation to research (Hesse-Biber and Piatelli 2012).…”

“…Narrative qualitative research (Beverley 2000) shares characteristics with a hermeneutic, “phronetic” research approaches (e.g., Herda 1999; Sandy 2013; Spicker 2011) where there is an emphasis on listening to the expertise of individuals with diverse life experiences, deliberating together to define good policies, and allowing for flexibility in methods based on what the situation requires. Spicker (2011:17) emphasizes the phronetic turn in research and public policy involves “experiential knowledge, testimony and voice.” The form of generalizability required for developing social policy based on this form of research involves the transfer of knowledge developed through the readers’ practical judgment, with appropriate sensitivity to the local context in which the transfer is to take place (Firestone 1993; Flyvbjerg 2001; Stake 1978).…”

“…Critically, this can begin to address issues of power as well as the physical conditions of inequality of resources (Lister 2002). There are many possibilities for providing leadership opportunities for people overcoming homelessness, such as including them in community-campus partnerships that involve residents (Sandy 2013), research linked to political action (Kline, Dolgon, and Dresser 2000), membership on agency boards and on coalitions to end homelessness, and in community organizing efforts to impact public policy (e.g., Shephard 2009;Wakin 2008). In this way, these women may gain a greater hand in creating their own ''lucky breaks'' while they help ''stake a claim and build the components of healthy communities, affordable housing, and community spaces'' (Shephard 2009).…”

“…Mothers who successfully overcame homelessness noted that their success depended on a combination of both structural and individual factors (e.g., Sandy 2013; Stanford 1991). In one study (Stanford 1991), formerly homeless single mothers described the need for access to two critical structural supports—subsidized housing and increased income—as well as the availability of personal social networks as the most important factors aiding their success.…”