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April 19, 2001 This web site presents results from a study in visual anthropology on issues of homelessness in Gainesville, Florida. Since January, we've been hitting the streets with our cameras and notebooks (and a considerable amount of spare change), documenting homeless survival strategies, eliciting their narratives, and investigating their current state of health and healthcare options. Dumpster-diving is just one of many strategies adopted by the homeless for acquiring food and money. But its health implications for indigent populations are more significant than other strategies, such as spare-changing. Ensuring that knowledge of dumpster-diving is ethnographically-informed also requires more than simply asking questions or doing library research. Following the tenets of participant-observation, we joined our informants on dumpster dives, helped them fish for useful items, and participated in debates over what was "edible," and what was not. We invite you to join us and our informants, Punch and Tyrus, on a virtual dumpster dive. Each item in our dumpster has its own informed commentary, and you might be surprised what sort of use can be had from this college town's discarded trash. Write us with your questions and comments! |