Achieving Citizenship and Recognition through Blogging about Homelessness

Abstract

This article describes a blog written by four men who were homeless in a western Canadian city in 2010. The blog was an attempt to promote communication between homeless people and the domiciled public, to assert the agency of homeless people, and to promote social integration through their participation in public discourse about homelessness. The bloggers explicitly set out to engage in civic action. In doing this they positioned themselves as advocates and therefore citizens—people with the right and responsibility to describe the “realities” of homelessness, critique existing social structures, take part in public dialogue about homelessness, advocate for change, and stand up for homeless people. This was a subject position that was not previously available to them. The blog project is an example of “lived citizenship,” citizenship as active participatory practice, and a way to achieve what Nancy Fraser calls a politics of recognition.