Critical Theory and Youth Homelessness

Though street children have become a subject for serious academic research, especially among anthropologists and psychologists, few thinkers have attempted to address the economic and ideological roots of youth homelessness.

The Brasilian State University of Santa Caterina (UDESC) has invited SAL Executive Director Kurt Shaw to develop and teach a class entitled “Tools for Understanding Youth Homelessness.” This collaboration with Professor Rita Oenning da Silva, other professors at Brasilian universities, and students in the class, will open a dialogue with contemporary critical theory -- particularly the work of Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Slavoj Zizek, and Giorgio Agamben -- as a way to understand and combat the origins of youth homelessness.

The conclusions of the collaboration will be distributed through the Shine a light network, with special emphasis paid to translating academic jargon into useful ideas.

This project will begin in September of 2003. We hope to post results on the SAL website by December of 2003.