Stories of the unhoused faithful

Changes in farm and factory economies have resulted in zones of urban suffering in Durham, North Carolina. Neoliberal government policies have favored business interests over the well-being of neighborhoods and individual accumulation of wealth over the welfare of all members of the community, reducing employment opportunities for urban workers and corroding healthy local support systems. These economic developments and social changes have left some residents of Durham—especially some Black residents—stuck in extreme poverty and without homes. These people are the subjects of Susan Dunlap’s study.

The religious material culture of people without homes is limited, so Dunlap focuses on the architecture of their inner lives. Normally people arrive at the Urban Ministries of Durham shelter with few possessions and few family or community connections, but some of them carry “archives of beliefs, habits, memories, and embodied knowledge from their religious backgrounds.” Dunlap, who volunteers as a chaplain at UMD, helps them unpack these “belongings” in informal meetings and gatherings, using stories and songs.

An ordained Presbyterian minister who teaches pastoral care at Duke Divinity School, Dunlap is experienced in helping create safe spaces for people to tell their stories. As an ethnographic researcher, she listens carefully to the “resistance narratives” of the people she meets at UMD and notes how they contradict the usual stories told about people without homes. Many of the life stories she hears include survival experiences, imagine new meaning in poverty, or interpret events within biblical frameworks and theological formulas. These stories make up the heart of the book.