Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2017
Abstract
In response to increasing homelessness in our city, Seattle Pacific University invited a homeless encampment (Tent City) to reside on our university campus for three months. This provided an opportunity to engage students on issues of poverty and inequality. Building from a service-learning model, we devised course work around homelessness and applied research. Students took a two-quarter course sequence to become knowledgeable about homelessness and sociological research methods in order to collect field observations and conduct interviews with Tent City residents. Based on student reflections, stereotypes about homelessness were challenged and social distance between students and people who were homeless was reduced. Student exposure to homelessness through faculty-guided research is an effective tool in developing a sociological imagination and an important step in fostering agents of social change.
Recommended Citation
McKinney, J., & Snedker, K. A. (2017). Hosting a Tent City: Student Engagement and Homelessness. Teaching Sociology, 45(3), 252-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X17694908
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
American Sociological Association
Included in
Community-Based Learning Commons, Community-Based Research Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Higher Education Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Teaching Sociology, volume 45, issue 3, in 2017 following peer review. This article may not exactly replicate the final published version. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X17694908.