Urban Ethnography Reading Group #6
Marr, M. D. (2015). Better Must Come: Exiting Homelessness in two Global Cities. ILR Press.
Recently, we have read Matthew D. Marr’s Better Must Come (2015) for our urban ethnography reading group. Marr researches the experiences of people who used transitional housing programmes in Los Angeles, USA, and Tokyo, Japan. Marr specifically focuses on exiting homelessness which according to the author leads to a more holistic understanding of homelessness, as well as understanding how this social problem is created, sustained, and alleviated by the interplay of social contexts at multipole levels. It also focuses on how material, economic, social, emotional, and other resources such as trust and information are secured in an attempt to exit homelessness.
Indeed, Better Must Come seems to take similar research approaches as our Food Charities project, particularly through its comparison and its focus on multiple levels within a context and thus inspires our own fieldwork. Next to the fact that we think the research object, exits from homelessness, is particularly clearly identified, our discussion centred on three other points, all related to comparative ethnography.
Firstly, what stood out to us is how Marr worked with translations. We appreciated that the original phrases and words present in the data were provided. We discussed how this gives richness and palpability to a text – albeit on the condition that one understands the original language – as the original language gives insights on the cultural context.
Secondly, we found it interesting to see how Marr structured this ethnographic text. Marr uses “exit stories” at the start of each book part to illustrate the arguments to be made in the chapters of that part. Furthermore, chapters presented Los Angeles and Tokyo separately, with relatively sparse direct comparison within paragraphs. This led us to a broader discussion on where one can integrate ethnographic data within a chapter, and how one can effectively present comparisons while also giving due focus to each city separately. We also pointed out how texts might be structured either by theme or by city.
Thirdly, we discussed Marr’s focus on the interaction of social contexts at multiple levels. For instance, what opportunities for social ties or employment are there in each city? What local and global conditions are affecting exits from homelessness? Indeed, Marr concludes that “processes of exiting homelessness are not determined by any singular context” (p. 27). Here, we discussed how it can be challenging to disentangle these different levels and to designate one particular level that is more influential than others in specific situations. For instance, in one chapter, Marr concludes that organisational culture is a key influential factor explaining why transitional housing organisations support their clients or not. Although Marr points out that welfare and urban regimes in turn influence organisational culture, this point led us back to an earlier discussion we have had on how to get at the relevant relations and dynamics within a field, and how to know that these are indeed the relevant ones.
Next up: Caldwell, M. (2004). Not By Bread Alone. Social Support in the New Russia. University of California Press.
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Marr, M. D. (2015). Better Must Come: Exiting Homelessness in two Global Cities. ILR Press.
