The visibility of homeless people through the analysis of the newspaper “Boca de Rua”

Abstract

It is not necessary to go far in large metropolises to realize that the number of people in the street is increasing, although this part of the population has little social visibility. To give voice to these individuals, Alice was founded in 1999 (Free Agency for Information, Citizenship and Education), which in 2001 integrated the newspaper Boca de Rua in its periodicals. The Boca de Rua is a community newspaper who aims to make people aware of street situations, as well as the aspects that make up their daily life of survival, and is thought of in a collaborative way by the characters themselves, that is, street individuals. This article deals with the analysis of the articles published in the newspaper Boca de Rua, selected during the seventeen years of existence of the period, in order to apprehend the residents’ point of view about their social reality. Through the Content Analysis, a mapping of the contents most frequently chosen during the twenty-eight editions of the newspaper Boca de Rua was carried out. The recurring themes were grouped into five subcategories: Human Rights; Invisibility; Discrimination and Prejudice; Work and Income; Drugs and Violence; Social Movements, Citizenship and Art. It was concluded that the construction of the social reality of the homeless in a street situation is permeated by stigma and violation of rights, although Boca de Rua acts in a way to give voice to this population, contributing to the social awareness of the problem of surviving in the street.

Keywords: Community newspaper. Homeless population. Social vulnerability.