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The spectacle of the poor. Or: 'Wow!! Awesome. Nice to know that people care!'


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Authors

Lancione, M 

Abstract

On the night of 14 November 2012, a police officer of the New York Police Department encountered a homeless person while performing his duties around Times Square. He gave him a pair of boots and while doing so, he was photographed by a tourist. The photo was posted on Facebook, receiving in a few days more than 1.6 million visits. The paper unfolds the reasons why this particular image and story have gone, as the media has put it, ‘viral’. The paper investigates the spaces that have emerged in the media elongation of DePrimo's practice of care and, introducing the notion of ‘spectacle of the poor’, it argues that this specific case simplifies the dominant western framings around matter of ‘caring for the poor’. The political and cultural consequences of these framings are investigated, and reflections on how to tackle them provided.

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Keywords

spectacle of the poor, care, homelessness, the Good Samaritan, NYPD, Facebook

Journal Title

Social and Cultural Geography

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1464-9365
1470-1197

Volume Title

15

Publisher

Taylor & Francis