Mothering in the margin: a narrative inquiry of women with children in a homeless shelter

ABSTRACT

Women living with their children in residential treatment family homeless shelters are often stigmatized on multiple fronts: for their addictions, being “homeless”, and assumptions about their mothering skills. This qualitative narrative inquiry study explored women’s experiences of living in a homeless shelter with their children as they recover from alcohol/drug addiction. Specifically, we examined the various ways in which the women conceptualized and performed mothering while residing at the New Beginnings shelter (pseudonym) in the mid-Southern U.S. Understanding the complexities of the women’s social, emotional, and health-based contexts can enable institutions to examine and shape implicit and explicit assumptions surrounding motherhood. We employed semi-structured interviews with six women and analyzed transcripts using two rounds of thematic coding. Five recurring themes emerged. The findings illustrate the way “appropriate mothering” is situated in specific institutional, political, historical, and economic contexts. We suggest hegemonic assumptions need to be interrogated to better serve families in crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• Mothering
• homelessness
• shelter
• addiction
• residential treatment program

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Katharina A. Azim, Ph.D., is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Her current academic interests are ethnic identity and MENA/Arab/Muslim psychology, on the one hand, and women’s health and agency, on the other hand. Within qualitative research, she focuses on postcolonial feminist theory, autoethnography, and narrative inquiry.

Laurie MacGillivray, Ed.D., is Professor of Literacy in the College of Education at the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on literacy as a social practice in classrooms, among families, and across communities. Recently, she has been particularly interested in systems thinking pedagogy in elementary classrooms.

Donalyn Heise, Ed.D., is founder and co-director of Teacher Effectiveness for Art Learning, and former Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on the intersection of art and resilience in education and community contexts for children who have experienced trauma.

ORCID

Katharina A. Azim http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9811-2729