Identity Narration and Negotiation among Older Adults Experiencing Homelessness

Abstract

To be old and homeless is to face multiple stigmatized identities simultaneously. This qualitative study explored how older homeless adults construct their personal and social identities to manage this stigma. A series of semi-structured in-depth interviews and field observations were conducted over a period of two years with twenty homeless older adults affiliated with an outreach program in a Northeastern U.S. city. Results revealed three typologies of identity narration strategies that the participants used in their processes of identity negotiation and stigma resistance: (1) illumination of positive identities, (2) differentiation and hierarchy, and (3) adoption of other stigmatized but more “deserving” identities. Three case narratives are presented here as a means of illustrating the constructed typology of identity narration and negotiation strategies among older adults experiencing homelessness. Findings suggest ways we might honor individual narratives to eliminate the dividing practice of homelessness as “other” and reframe the discourse to better address older homelessness.

Keywords:

• Homelessness
• aging
• identity
• stigma
• resistance
• phenomenology

Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to acknowledge the older adults who participated in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development [DDRG Award #H-21571 SG], American Association of University Women, and Boston University School of Social Work.