Abstract:Abstract. In this paper 'missing people' gain an unstable presence through their (restaged) testimonies recounting individual occupations of material urban public space during the lived practice of absence. We explore 'missing experience' with reference to homeless geographies, and as constituted by paradoxical spatialities in which people are both absent and present. We seek to understand such urban geographies of absence through diverse voices of missing people, who discuss their embodiment of unusual rhythm… Show more
“…There is a large discourse worldwide on missing people (including children) (Best, , , ; Boss, , , 2008; Gair & Moloney, ; Gattas, Figaro‐Garcia, Landini, & Estes, ; Fritz & Altheide, ; Holmes, ; Min & Feaster, ; Parr & Fyfe, ; Parr & Stevenson, ; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe, & Woolnough, ; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, ). Gair and Moloney (, p. 90) define a missing person as “someone whose whereabouts are unknown and fears exist for the safety and welfare of that person” (Parr & Fyfe, ; Parr & Stevenson, , ; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe et al., ; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, ). In the Anglo‐American context, the phrase “missing children” denotes:…three familiar phenomena: runaways (children—most often adolescents—who chose to leave home and usually returned within a few days); child‐snatching (non‐custodial parents who illegally took their own children without the custodial parent's permission); and abductions by strangers (who might keep, sell, ransom, molest or kill the child) (Best, ; p. 103; Best, , ; Min & Feaster, ).…”
The sociologies of India's missing children merit spatial and contextual examination. The sociological space into which a child goes missing is highly under‐researched in India. Building on overarching narratives emerging from secondary sources and existing literature on Indian children's vulnerability and precarity, the article aims to evaluate the landscape of missing children. The analyses suggest that a number of interconnected sociologies contribute to the phenomenon of missing children – these children are mainly from the poorer backgrounds, who are kidnapped, trafficked, or lured largely for social, commercial, and sexual exploitation. This research was conducted to gain a deeper understanding into the problem of missing children in order to address the gaps that require intervention.
“…There is a large discourse worldwide on missing people (including children) (Best, , , ; Boss, , , 2008; Gair & Moloney, ; Gattas, Figaro‐Garcia, Landini, & Estes, ; Fritz & Altheide, ; Holmes, ; Min & Feaster, ; Parr & Fyfe, ; Parr & Stevenson, ; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe, & Woolnough, ; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, ). Gair and Moloney (, p. 90) define a missing person as “someone whose whereabouts are unknown and fears exist for the safety and welfare of that person” (Parr & Fyfe, ; Parr & Stevenson, , ; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe et al., ; Parr, Stevenson, & Woolnough, ). In the Anglo‐American context, the phrase “missing children” denotes:…three familiar phenomena: runaways (children—most often adolescents—who chose to leave home and usually returned within a few days); child‐snatching (non‐custodial parents who illegally took their own children without the custodial parent's permission); and abductions by strangers (who might keep, sell, ransom, molest or kill the child) (Best, ; p. 103; Best, , ; Min & Feaster, ).…”
The sociologies of India's missing children merit spatial and contextual examination. The sociological space into which a child goes missing is highly under‐researched in India. Building on overarching narratives emerging from secondary sources and existing literature on Indian children's vulnerability and precarity, the article aims to evaluate the landscape of missing children. The analyses suggest that a number of interconnected sociologies contribute to the phenomenon of missing children – these children are mainly from the poorer backgrounds, who are kidnapped, trafficked, or lured largely for social, commercial, and sexual exploitation. This research was conducted to gain a deeper understanding into the problem of missing children in order to address the gaps that require intervention.
“…The National Alliance to End Homelessness recognizes differences in homelessness in different geographies, as outlined in their Geography of Homelessness report (2009) and researchers have concluded that attention to differential geographies is essential to understanding subpopulations of homelessness (Cloke et al, 2001; DeVerteuil, May, & Mahs, 2009; Lawrence, 1995; Parr, Stevenson, Fyfe, & Woolnough, 2015). Accordingly, researchers have recently applied a human geographical approach to begin to add to the homelessness literature in the areas of risk assessment (Reilly, 1994), social networks (Rowe & Wolch, 1990), perceptions of time and space (Van Doorn, 2010), and an integrated multidisciplinary model to further research in this special area (Williams & Sheehan, 2015).…”
Within the landscape of postwar era Detroit, space is vast, but places are hard to find. As people tumble down the side of Maslow’s pyramid into abject homelessness, they attempt to anchor themselves in locations that suspend the otherwise situational free fall. This article analyzes how time and space are perceived by people experiencing chronic homelessness and how those individual perceptions are informed by the objective time and space urban environment. We conducted our community-based participatory research into the experiences of chronic homelessness both from perspectives of chronically homeless older adult men and from front-line service providers. Themes that emerged are as follows: (1) temporary permanence, (2) permanent temporariness, and (3) lostness. The article concludes with policy implications regarding the procedures for measuring the extent of homelessness and the needs of those who live it.
“…We have written elsewhere about the characteristic features of missing journeys and their discordant emotional logics and rhythms (Parr et al . ), but by paying particular attention to the women's narratives, we can see that they correctly anticipate and are conscious of the intensity of concern about their absence:You don't want people worrying, but how do you make people sure or convinced that even if you have disappeared that you're safe, that you can look after yourself … I knew I had to stay away from authority, and I had to stay away from people I knew because they were already looking for me. (Wilma, missing 16–48 hours, repeatedly)…”
Section: Women's Narratives Of Being Missingmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Megan feels that she has the right to go without prior explanation (and see Parr et al . on ‘rights‐to‐be‐missing’), and Rhona (missing repeatedly) talks about her alternative cartographies of city public space:Sometimes it can be really comforting. I mean waking up in a new city, it feels like home.…”
Section: Women's Narratives Of Being Missingmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In seeking to contribute to broader understandings of the relationships between gender and movement (Bowstead ; Hanson ; Uteng and Cresswell ), we provide critical commentary on the unusual mobilities of temporarily missing women in the UK, elaborating more general geographies of ‘missing experience’ as discussed in Parr et al . (). Our focus is primarily on how temporary female absence is policed and experienced, in and through particular spaces.…”
This paper considers the neglected mobilities associated with a sample of UK women reported as missing. Refracted through literatures on gendered mobility and abandonment, the paper argues that the journeys of these women in crisis are not well understood by police services, and that normative gender relations may infuse their management. By selectively exploring one illustrative police case file on Kim, we highlight how reported and observed socio-spatial relationships within private and public spaces relate to search actions. We argue that Kim's mobility and spatial experiences are barely understood, except for when they appear to symbolise disorder and danger. We address the silences in this singular case by using the voices of other women reported as missing, as collected in a research project to explore the agency, experience and meaning of female mobility during absence. We argue that women reported as missing are not abandoned by UK policing services, but that a policy of continued search for them may be at risk if they repeatedly contravene normative socio-spatial relationships through regular absence mobilities. By way of conclusion, we address recent calls for research that explores the relationships between gender and mobility.
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