The anthropology of poverty in the Downtown East Side

In recent weeks, I have had several opportunities to have lunch with a few friends (including Nancy Zimmerman, Lorraine Murphy and J. Karen Parker) at various eateries in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. If you are not a frequent reader of my blog, you may not know that I have a really hard time walking through the DTES. It’s not that I am afraid or anything. It hurts my soul, to be a witness to the pain and suffering, the poverty. I mentioned how I feel in more detail in this post. The good thing, though, is that having had the chance to eat at places like The Ovaltine, Save on Meats and The Only has given me (at least in part) a new perspective on the DTES.

Credit: Evan Leeson on Flickr

While waiting for Nancy for lunch at Save on Meats, I spent about half an hour waiting right in front of the meat store near Carrall and East Hastings. Not being used to witnessing the day-to-day struggles of people who live in the DTES area, some of which who traverse through a life of drug addiction, sexual abuse, poverty and homelessness, I stood there, leaning against a street light pole, observing the movement around me. While trying to concentrate on not feeling pain, I couldn’t help but reflect on how hard it must be for researchers (particularly anthropologists/ethnographers) to engage in field research in the DTES community. To seriously conduct ethnographies, one needs to immerse oneself in the subject matter to a degree where an in-depth understanding of the issues can be gained.

My time as an observer of the activities that were taking place was brief, at moments overpowering, raw but more than anything, insightful. I was able to recognize my own limitations in regards to the subject matters I feel capable and comfortable of studying. I doubt I will ever feel a competent ethnographer of poverty and homelessness issues, simply because my soul is too sensitive to the pain and suffering of the people who would be my research subjects. I am passionate about alleviating poverty and tackling issues of homelessness, but I think the best use of my research capabilities will be in the public policy realm, not in the field.

One related concept that made me sit down and reflect was the portrayal of poverty in the DTES in the media. I wondered how much of the negative perception of the current state of the DTES is due to the way in which the situation of this Vancouver derelict region is portrayed in the news. I have friends who live in the area who are not only overcoming their challenges but rising, growing, and evolving. Much discussion has been had in the Wikipedia page on the DTES, but I don’t find any conclusive results. So I turned to Google Scholar and found this MA thesis in Communication (SFU) by Kate Rafter, where she finds that the representation of Canadian news outlets of the poverty reinforces beliefs of the paradigm of Structural Responsibility (where socio-economic structures are considered responsible for the creation/maintenance of poverty)

I wonder what the representation of poverty and homelessness in new media is right now, and whether anyone has undertaken an academic study of how poverty is depicted in social media, blogs, etc. Given that analytical tools such as rhetoric and discourse analysis have been applied to traditional media outlets’ portrayal of poverty, I wonder if we could do some content analysis or discourse analysis (anyone need a Masters’, or PhD thesis topic?). I am also curious to know if anybody has read more on the anthropology of poverty. If so, please share.

Related posts:

1. Potluck Catering and Cafe (Downtown East Side)
2. Canadian elections results 2008 and poverty – Blog Action Day 2008
3. The measure of progress in poverty alleviation – Blog Action Day ‘08
4. Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty
5. The realities of the Downtown East Side