Abstract

NOBRE, Maria Teresa  and  BARREIRA, Irlys Alencar Firmo. The letter and life: mismatches between daily life and bureaucracy in policies for the homeless. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2020, vol.26, n.1, pp. 471-491. ISSN 1677-1168.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9563.2020v26n1p460-480.

This paper studies the homeless population as an emblematic case to discuss the relationship between daily life and bureaucracy, displaying the tensions between living on the streets and the functioning of public policies concerning homeless people's living in two capitals in the Northeast of Brazil. Based on homeless people’s narrative excerpts, participant/itinerant’s observation records and workers’ reports through interviews, the study problematizes the distance between the letter (bureaucracy) and life (daily life) and the relation between regulated time and space, highlighting how, outside the institutional walls, the daily life is practiced in its uniqueness, but excluded from the right to the city. In this context, the city is understood as polis, concluding that the challenges on the street are the challenges of the city: aggregating stories and supporting the differences.

Keywords : Homeless; Daily life; Bureaucracy; Public policies.; City.

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