Rent, Out, and After – Examining the Process of Eviction in Urban America

Authors

Kathryn Roulston, University of GeorgiaFollow

Abstract

In his ethnography, Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city, sociologist Matthew Desmond examines the process of eviction for a group of people who he came to know in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Desmond painstakingly chronicles what happens when individuals and families cannot “make rent,” and are subsequently evicted from their homes. The stories presented in this book call on readers to deeply consider the interconnections between the rich and poor in urban areas in the U.S.A, and how polices might be revised with a view to ensuring affordable housing for all. An example of realist ethnography, Desmond also challenges qualitative researchers to consider the place of the “I” in contemporary qualitative studies.

Keywords

Ethnography, Eviction

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Kathy Roulston is professor and program coordinator in the Qualitative Research methods program at the University of Georgia, Athens. Her research interests focus on the application of qualitative research methods, topics in music education, and micro-analytic approaches to the analysis of talk-in-interaction. Dr. Roulston has published articles, chapters and a book on qualitative interviewing. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: roulston@uga.edu.

Publication Date

11-4-2016

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2685

Recommended APA Citation

Roulston, K. (2016). Rent, Out, and After – Examining the Process of Eviction in Urban America. The Qualitative Report, 21(11), 2055-2058. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2685