Countering the stigma of homeless people: The Swedish street paper "Situation sthlm" as a counter-hegemonic voice for the re-humanization of homeless people
Abstrakt
In this article, we analysed content published in the Swedish street paper Situation Sthlm over a six-month period (July-December 2018), 12 interviews with Situation Sthlm staff members and vendors, and short ethnographic observations (of five days) during the period of November-December 2018. By deploying a discourse-theoretical analysis (Laclau & Mouffe, 1985; Carpentier, 2017), the study examines how Situation Sthlm articulates a discourse that destigmatises and rehumanises homeless people, through the emphasis on the home as a contingent and affective space, the re-allocation of agency and the reactivation of homeless people's citizenship.
At the same time, the analysis points to the limitations in the articulation of this alternative discourse.