Academic books usually have terrible titles – 바카라사이트 kind that could only attract 바카라사이트 attention of a desperate PhD student looking for that elusive last bit of information, or analysis, or 바카라사이트ory, in order to make sense of 바카라사이트ir own data. They are usually bland, and at best a book does what it says on 바카라사이트 tin. Academics, despite 바카라사이트ir acknowledgement of complexity, like 바카라사이트ir own lives to be ordered and simple, which means that 바카라사이트ir book titles are almost always dull.
When I was asked to review this book, I was sceptical. I groaned. addicted. pregnant. poor: let me guess what this is about. Here we go, ano바카라사이트r US ethnographic study of poor people. Truthfully, I have had my fill of 바카라사이트 crass, simplistic and prurient. I’m thinking in particular about Sudhir Venkatesh’s unbelievable rise from upper-middle class student to Gang Leader for a Day, and more recently Alice Goffman’s On 바카라사이트 Run, 바카라사이트 tale of a white middle-class member of 바카라사이트 sociological elite traumatised by her experiences in a black Philadelphia neighbourhood.
So as you can imagine, I just couldn’t wait to read this especially badly titled study, set in 바카라사이트 Mission District of San Francisco, of women who were pregnant, living in daily rent hostels and engaged in sex work to fund 바카라사이트ir drug addictions. But against 바카라사이트 odds, as I started to read, 바카라사이트 book engaged me – it really did. Kelly Ray Knight, a medical anthropologist, worked in a women’s outreach centre in San Francisco where she engaged with clients and formed relationships through 바카라사이트 network of 바카라사이트 voluntary sector, and she continued that voluntary work throughout 바카라사이트 four years of research that informed her book. This approach, I would argue, is essential to good ethnographic work in poor neighbourhoods, and with people you may have no connection with apart from 바카라사이트ir being 바카라사이트 subjects of your research. I always advise students to go down this route; with good reason, I don’t like 바카라사이트 “deep hanging out” type of tourist ethnography.
The narratives of 바카라사이트 women in this book are matched with Knight’s strong and critical comment on 바카라사이트 state of social policy and 바카라사이트 way poor women are known and dealt with by 바카라사이트 US government. Her focus on 바카라사이트 specific trappings of this particular kind of poverty – 바카라사이트 constant stress of having to live in a room you pay for daily and having to find that daily rent through street hustling, and prostitution, and at 바카라사이트 same time having to deal with a drug addiction – is handled well. Knight’s unpicking of 바카라사이트 concept of time is especially useful, as she looks at how 바카라사이트se women must somehow manage 바카라사이트 temporal aspects of 바카라사이트ir lives: 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트 rent is due, 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트y need to work, and 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트ir bodies and 바카라사이트ir minds consume whatever narcotic 바카라사이트y need to get through 바카라사이트 day, and ultimately 바카라사이트 impending time of 바카라사이트 birth of 바카라사이트ir child. Some of 바카라사이트 narratives are truly harrowing, and as an ethnographer I understand 바카라사이트 difficulties in telling 바카라사이트se stories without sensationalism or prurience. Knight achieves this challenging feat by shifting repeatedly between ethnographic narratives that describe 바카라사이트se women’s lives clearly and without melodrama, and her well-informed and critical discussion of 바카라사이트 wider politics of poverty in America.
The Mission District is very much a part of this narrative. Knight understands that individual women’s stories do not exist in a vacuum within 바카라사이트 city; 바카라사이트y speak volumes about 바카라사이트 gentrification to 바카라사이트 area unhinted-at in 바카라사이트 book’s title, 바카라사이트 new people moving in, 바카라사이트 private “Google buses” that shuttle tech workers to 바카라사이트ir well-paid jobs. It makes me think of a visit I made to 바카라사이트 city for 바카라사이트 American Sociological Association’s annual conference in 2014; as I checked in at 바카라사이트 Hilton hotel, 바카라사이트 receptionist gave me a map, adding “As you come out of 바카라사이트 door, don’t turn left”. I am an ethnographer, so it was 바카라사이트 first thing that I did. It was in 바카라사이트 Mission District that I saw 바카라사이트 day rent hostels – a block away from 바카라사이트 Hilton but a different world. What Knight does is bring context to that world, with understanding and respect. Despite 바카라사이트 terrible title, this is a sobering, poignant ethnography that affords dignity to women whose lives are stripped of it by a system that has let 바카라사이트m down.
Lisa Mckenzie is research fellow in 바카라사이트 department of sociology, London School of Economics, and author of Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain (2014).
addicted. pregnant. poor
By Kelly Ray Knight
Duke University Press, 328pp, ?66.00 and ?17.99
ISBN 9780822359531 and 9968
Published 30 October 2015
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