Survival and Resistance: A Zine Study with Young Women and Femmes Experiencing Housing Injustice in Canadian Cities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15402/esj.v10i2.70842Keywords:
housing injustice, women and femmes, resistance, public health, policy, arts-based researchAbstract
Housing injustice is a serious public health issue among young women and femmes (aged 18-24) in Canada but the research available on this topic seldom centres the voices of people with lived and living experience. This population is marginally visible in the shelter systems; instead their experiences may be described as “hidden homelessness”. This housing typology refers to situations where someone seeks shelter in ways like couch-surfing, car sleeping, or other short-term accommodations that are not typically recognized as responding to housing injustice. Drawing from a methodology of social constructionism, this paper reviews findings from an arts-based inquiry that sought to answer the research question, “what are the survival and resistance strategies that young women and femmes experiencing housing injustice use to support their wellness and engage with life?” Using reflexive thematic analysis, a zine was created and analyzed to reveal five themes: 1). Affective and Psychological Strategies of Resistance; 2). Survival Strategies and Behaviours to Ensure Material Survival; 3). Felt Knowledge About Good Living; 4). Organized Abandonment and Other Normed Chaos; and, 5). Importance of Human Connection, Solidarity, and Radical Care. The strengths and limitations, along with implications for public health policy and research are discussed.
References
Ansloos, J. P., & Gardner, K. (2023). On the incommensurability of police and harm reduction. Lingering: On the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 14, 26-27. https://content.blackwoodgallery.ca/media/pages/publications/sduk/lingering/f2c3a21a48-2521673446726/blackwood_sduk14_lingering.pdf
Art Gallery of Ontario. (2009, March 14). What is a zine? http://artmatters.ca/wp/2008/08/what-isa-zine/
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern‐based qualitative analytic approaches. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 21(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12360
Burstow, B. (1992). Radical feminist therapy: Working in the context of violence. In Radical feminist therapy: Working in the context of violence (pp.1-20). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483326092
Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. (2016). Canadian definition of youth homelessness. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press. https://www.homelesshub.ca/resource/canadian-definition-youth-homelessness
Chavis, D., Stucky, P., & Wandersman, A. (1983). Returning basic research to the community: A relationship between scientist and citizen. American Psychologist, 38(4), 424-434. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.38.4.424
Chen, Y., Shek, D., & Bu, F. (2011). Applications of interpretive and constructionist research methods in adolescent research: Philosophy, principles and examples. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh.2011.022
Clay, S. (2022). Wild self-care. Somatechnics, 12(1–2), 73–91. https://doi.org/10.3366/soma.2022.0378
Conrad, D., & Kendal, W. (2009). Making space for youth: iHuman Youth Society & arts-based participatory research with street-involved youth in Canada. In D. Kapoor & S. Jordan (Eds.), Education, participatory action research and social change: International perspectives (pp. 251-264). Palgrave Macmillan
Couch, J., Durant, B., & Hill, J. (2012). Young people, old issues: Methodological concerns in research with highly marginalised young people. Youth Studies Australia, 31, 46–49.
Dej, E. (2020). A complex exile: Homelessness and social exclusion in Canada. UBC Press.
Department of Justice. (2021, July 7). The Youth Criminal Justice Act: Summary and Background. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/yj-jj/tools-outils/back-hist.html
Eastham, S., Negropontes, J., Walsh, C. A., Ciesielski, M., Harris, J., Jones, S., Rutherford, G., Prinsloo, I., & Aarrestad, S. (2010). Out of the lower depths: The power of the arts for social justice transformation. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, Special Issue on Social Justice, 16(3), 52-61.
Epston, D., & White, M. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. W. W. Norton.
Estrella, K., & Forinash, M. (2007). Narrative inquiry and arts-based inquiry: Multinarrative perspectives. Journal of Humanist Psychology 47(3), 373-383. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167807301898
Finley, S. (2003). Arts-based inquiry in QI: Seven years from crisis to guerilla warfare. Qualitative Inquiry 9(2), 281-296. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004022509
Gaetz, S., O’Grady, B., Kidd, S., & Schwan., K. (2016). Without a Home: The National Youth Homelessness Survey. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press. https://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/WithoutAHome-final.pdf
Greenwood, J. (2019). Arts-Based research. Oxford research encyclopedia of education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.29.
Harvard University. (2024). Close reading as analysis. https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/classicwrites/close-reading-0
Hays, A. (2017). Reading the margins: Embedded narratives in feminist personal zines. The Journal of Popular Culture, 50(1), 86-108. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.12504
Hellegers, D. (2011). No room of her own women’s stories of homelessness, life, death, and resistance (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230339200
Hoshmand, L. T. (2005). Narratology, cultural psychology, and counseling research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 178–186. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.178
Ilyniak, S. (2022) Make work methodology: Canadian homelessness research and its role in austerity. Radical Housing Journal, 4(2), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.54825/HJAT4040
Jaworski, K., & Scott, D. G. (2016). Understanding the unfathomable in suicide. In J. White, I. Marsh, M. J. Kral, & J. Morris. (Eds.), Critical Suicidology (pp. 209-228). UBC Press.
Jaworsky, D., Gadermann, A., Duhoux, A., Naismith, T. E., Norena, M., To, M. J., & Palepu, A. (2016). Residential stability reduces unmet health care needs and emergency department utilization among a cohort of homeless and vulnerably housed persons in Canada. Journal of Urban Health, 93(4), 666-681. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-016-0065-6
Kelley, R. (2014). Resistance as revelatory. In K. Yang & E. Tuck (Eds.), Youth Resistance Research and Theories of Change (pp. 82-96). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Klassen, J. & Spring, L. (2015). Counting women in: A gender-based analysis of homelessness. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Manitoba%20Office/2015/03/Counting_women_in.pdf
Kumanyika, C. (Host). (2020, June 10). Ruth Wilson Gilmore makes the case for abolition [Audio podcast episode]. In Intercepted Podcast. Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2020/06/10/ruth-wilson-gilmore-makes-the-case-for-abolition/
Licht, K. de F. (2020). “Hostile architecture” and its confederates: A conceptual framework for how we should perceive our cities and the objects in them. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 29 (2), 1–17.
Milaney, K., Lockerbie, S. L., Fang, X. Y., & Ramage, K. (2019). The role of structural violence in family homelessness. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 110(5), 554–562. https://doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00219-y
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. (2024). Let’s Talk: Moving Upstream. https://nccdh.ca/images/uploads/Moving_Upstream_Final_En.pdf
Olmos-Vega, F. M., Stalmeijer, R. E., Varpio, L., & Kahlke, R. (2023). A practical guide to reflexivity in qualitative research: AMEE Guide No. 149. Medical Teacher, 45(3), 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2022.2057287
Prinsloo, I., Negroponters, J., Eastham, S., Walsh, C. A., & Rutherford, G. (2010). Mining the depths: Performing stories for home and homelessness, creating the space for deep listening, and understanding. In C. McLean (Ed.) & R. Kelly (Ass. Ed.) (pp. 203-227). Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, Inquiries for Hope & Change. Detselig/Temeron Books.
Sakamoto, I., Khandor, E., Chapra, A., Hendrickson, T., Maher, J., Roche, B. & Chin, M. (2008). Homelessness - diverse experiences, common issues, shared solutions: The need for inclusion and accountability. Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto.
Schwan, K. (2017). Arts programming for youth experiencing homelessness [Fact sheet]. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. https://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/COH_Art_Making_Difference-FactSheet.pdf
Schwan, K., Versteegh, A., Perri, M., Caplan, R., Baig, K., Dej, E., Jenkinson, J., Brais, H., Eiboff, F., & Pahlevan Chaleshtari, T. (2020). The State of Women’s Housing Need & Homelessness in Canada: A Literature Review. Hache, A., Nelson, A., Kratochvil, E., & Malenfant, J. (Eds). Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press.
Statistics Canada. (2021, March 4). A Portrait of Canadian Youth: March 2019 Updates. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2019003-eng.htm
Trau, B., Blanc, M., & Cambre, C. (2019). Visibilities and visual discourses: Rethinking the social with the image. Qualitative Inquiry, 25(4), 327-337. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800418792946
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409-428. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.79.3.n0016675661t3n15
United Nations. (n.d.). Youth. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/youth
Wade, A. (1997). Small acts of living: Everyday resistance to violence and other forms of oppression. Contemporary Family Therapy, 19(1), 23-39. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026154215299
Walsh, C., Rutherford, G. & Kuzmak, N. (2009). Characteristics of home: Perspectives of women who are homeless. The Qualitative Report, 14(2), 299-317. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2009.1385
Walsh R. 2003. The methods of reflexivity. Humanist Psychol. 31(4): 51–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2003.9986934
World Health Organization (1986). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. https://nccdh.ca/resources/entry/ottawa-charter-for-health-promotion#:~:text=The%20Ottawa%20Charter%20is%20a,resources%2C%20social%20justice%20and%20equity.
Yang, K., & Tuck, E. (2014). Youth resistance research and theories of change. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Nicole Santos Dunn, Ansloos Jeffrey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter separate, additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in an institutional repository or on their website) after the publication of their work in the Engaged Scholar Journal.
- Please note that while every opportunity will be taken to ensure author participation in the editing process, due to time constraints final copyediting changes may be made before publication to ensure APA adherence throughout all submissions.
