14 DAY TRIAL // The media and entertainment channels have taught us that archeology is all about lavish discoveries of the artifacts of old. But a new study has demonstrated that it is not necessarily so, as archeology may provide tools that can be used in order to address contemporary issues, such as the lives of homeless people who are not integrated into a controlled system or institution, such as shelters. The research, performed by an anthropology professor and a former homeless student, may aid us in understanding the actual behavior and needs of the homeless.
Larry J. Zimmerman, PhD, a professor of anthropology and museum studies from the School of Liberal Arts at the Indiana University - Purdue University in Indianapolis, together with Jessica Welch, a formerly homeless woman who is now a student at the same institution, have conducted a study on the material culture (signification of common, daily items for certain groups) of the homeless persons, only to find that the implications of the matter are far deeper than believed.
While previous similar studies focused on aspects like diseases, drug addiction or job environments, they were also performed in shelters, thus not reflecting the sheer reality of the phenomenon. Since most such people don't live in shelters, they behave very differently from those who do. "We tend to see the homeless as a small extension of our lives but they are not; this is almost a different culture," shared Zimmerman, cited by Eurekalert. Priorities are different when food and shelter are not a concern.
"You develop coping mechanisms – a fight or flight response - when you are homeless that are probably not appropriate in mainstream culture. You get increasingly defensive and desperate. This is just one of the many things that make it difficult for homeless people to re-enter ‘normal society’. We have to understand that a goal of simply creating more affordable housing units is not enough; we need a complete social safety net, including better treatment and counseling options, and plenty of compassion and understanding on the part of the community," stated Welsh.
While not invading the intimacy of the "houses" or "caches" even when the owners were away, the team still managed to draw important results from the items thrown away or left behind. "We found a large number of food cans. Most had been opened, often not very successfully, with knives or by banging them against rocks or even by heating them until the contents exploded. We rarely found cans that had been opened by a can opener. That made us realize that they didn't have can openers, which must have been very frustrating to them," reported Zimmerman.
"We also found a lot of hotel-size bottles of shampoo and conditioner, deodorant and toothpaste. Only the toothpaste was used. This tells us that giving things like shampoo and conditioner to individuals without access to water doesn't make sense. It would be better to send these kinds of things to shelters and not distribute them to people living on the streets. When we try to deliver aid to the homeless we tend to give them what we think they need. A much better way to deliver aid is to target what they actually need, and our work on the material culture of the homeless may help us find out what that really is," he added.