1. Situating Practice within Diversity:
Homelessness and Human Development
in Bangladesh
Sub-theme: Interventions in Homelessness
Homelessness: A Global Perspective
International Conference, 9-13 January 2006, New Delhi, India
Shayer Ghafur
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

2. Argument
• Homogenous representation of
homelessness in the public discourse is
a constraint for intervention
• In representation without differentiation
Etiology and pathology of homeless
people remain unrelated
• Practice to be situated within diversity of
homelessness
2/12

3. Methodology
• Review of published documents and
complementing them with media
reports
• ‘Critical Discourse Analysis’ provides
the methodological framework
3/12

4. Structure
• Homelessness in Bangladesh
(prior understanding)
• Homogenous Representation of
Homelessness
• Review of practice
• Implications of Homogenous
Representation
• Conclusions
4/12

5. Homelessness in Bangladesh
(prior understanding)
• Diversity and similarity
Roof-Root-Resource lessness
Types: Floating homelessness
Situated homelessness
Potential homelessness
• Home for human development
Access to home interferes homeless people’s
ability to earn, learn, and live with good health
5/12

6. Homogenous Representation of
Homelessness
Forms of homogenous representation
Slum dwellers (bastee-bashies)
6/12

7. Missing Diversity
Age: Adult / Child Sex: Male /
Female
Social Unit: Individual/
household
7/12

8. Reasons for homogenous
representation
• Absence of a statutory definition
• Absence of social distinctions
• Operational conveniences
8/12

9. Return Home (Ghore Phera) -
a review of practice
• Return Home is a credit programme
• It identifies slum dwellers as rootless
people willing to return to villages
• It classified slum dwellers into 4 groups
1. Has homestead land, house and small land
2. Has homestead land and house, but no land
3. Has only homestead land
4. Has nothing
9/12

10. Implications of
Homogenous Representation
Representing slum dwellers as homeless
people is selective and segmental
• Policy:
‘physical perspective’ in policy formulation
• Practice:
‘top-down’ intervention with sectoral goals
• Political:
‘disempowerment’ of homeless people
10/12

11. Conclusions
• Public discourse do not adopt the concept of
homelessness to note its differentiation for
subsequent intervention
• Situating practice within diversity is required
11/12

12. Suggested Framework for
Future Practice
Structure Age
Homelessness
(Floating — Situated — Potential)
Etiology Pathology
(Causes) (Manifest Consequences)
Sex
Human
Development
Agency Practice Social unit
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