Description
Book SynopsisHomelessness became a conspicuous facet of Russian cityscapes only in the 1990s, when the Soviet criminalization of vagrancy and similar offenses was abolished. In spite of the host of social and economic problems confronting Russia in the demise of Soviet power, the social dislocation endured by increasing numbers of people went largely unrecognized by the state. Being homeless carries a special burden in Russia, where a permanent address is the precondition for all civil rights and social benefits and where homelessness is often regarded as a result of laziness and drinking, rather than external factors.
In Needed by Nobody, the anthropologist Tova Höjdestrand offers a nuanced portrait of homelessness in St. Petersburg. Based on ethnographic work at railway stations, soup kitchens, and other places where the homeless gather, Höjdestrand describes the material and mental world of this marginalized population. They are, she observes, not needed in two senses. The state consid
Trade Review
"Needed by Nobody is a wonderful book that has much to contribute to discussions in urban anthropology and sociology, Russian studies, homelessness, alcoholism, and psychology. I have enormous respect for the fieldwork that Tova Höjdestrand conducted for this admirable ethnography. I read every word with great interest." -- Dale Pesmen, author of Russia and Soul: An Exploration
