Girls in homelessness. Living conditions, senses of belonging and senses of home

The project’s aim is to contribute knowledge about girls´ own experiences of living in homelessness, through an ethnographic study with 15-24-year-old girls, with focus on their living conditions, and senses of belonging and home. The questions are: How can the living conditions of girls with experience of homelessness be understood?

How is belonging constructed by girls with experience of living in homelessness? What senses are ascribed to home by girls in homelessness?

How do intersectional categorisations, such as gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality and age, affect girls´ experiences of living in homelessness?The project will run for three years, and the two researchers will be involved in all parts of the project.

The project has an ethnographic approach including visual ethnography, and is based on participant observations, visual methods, and narrative and walking interviews.

This approach, and its different methods, enables in-depth knowledge and that girls´ own perspectives and participation are consistently in focus through their own voices and visual expressions.The planned research will contribute with a new approach to the research field on homelessness with its focus on studying with girls rather than about.

Thus, the originality of the project lies primarily in its ethnographic and visual approach and its focus on girls´ own experiences of homelessness, but also in its theorisation of belonging and home.