Rae St. Clair BRIDGMAN

PUBLICATIONS


Books
Journal Articles
Chapters in Books

Other Articles
Book Reviews

Books

Cover of Angel: Homeless in Toronto by Rae Bridgman

Angel: Homeless in Toronto
Independently published, 2016.

Angel’s story begins —


no one has a scar like this unless
go ahead
yeah someone’s tried to
kill me

girl you must be here for some reason
that’s what I keep tellin’ myself
you must be here on this blessed earth
for some reason

A testament to the search for reason in the face of loss and sorrow, the resiliency of the human spirit, an unerring sense of hope…Angel tells her story of a treacherous childhood, abuse and living homeless on the streets of Toronto. First person narrative, fragments of memory and free verse heighten the immediacy of this gritty yet poignant story for young adults, which treads a fine line between the sane and the incomprehensible.

Angel draws upon a decade of fieldwork and interviews with chronically homeless women in Toronto. The book is available freely on my website. After reading Angel, please pass “the gift” of Angel’s story on — consider making a donation to a local charity or non-profit organization helping those living homeless in your community.

Cover of Jimmy Tattoo: Homeless on the Streets of Toronto by Rae Bridgman

Jimmy Tattoo: Homeless on the Streets of Toronto
Independently published, 2016.

I’m a regular walking art gallery
every inch
that’s why they call me Jimmy Tattoo
‘cause of all these tattoos
it’s as good a name as any
at least people don’t forget it
and maybe that’s a good thing or
maybe that’s a bad thing
depending on how you look at it


Homeless on the streets of Toronto, Jimmy Tattoo offers up a chilling story for young adults in this long poem. A life of abuse and survival…and ultimately, redemption.

Jimmy Tattoo draws upon a decade of fieldwork and interviews with chronically homeless men in Toronto. The book is available freely on my website. After reading Jimmy Tattoo, please pass “the gift” of Jimmy’s story on — consider making a donation to a local charity or non-profit organization helping those living homeless in your community.


 

Cover of StreetCities
Preview

StreetCities: Rehousing the Homeless (Teaching Culture: UTP Ethnographies for the Classroom.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

If you are teaching an Introduction to Anthropology, Urban Anthropology, Introduction to Urban Studies, Ethnography or Research Methods course, this makes ideal reading for your students. One intro anthro instructor wrote (February 2011):

"It's written in a very accessible way, and offers a great basis for discussing writing and representation in ethnography, thanks to all the different styles (the narratives, the town council script, the photos and fieldnotes)."

Bay Weyman's StreetCity (see Close Up Films) - filmed at the time of my fieldwork at StreetCity - complements the book and will bring the issues home for your students too.


Cover of Safe Haven
Preview

Safe Haven: The Story of a Shelter for Homeless Women Toronto: University of Toronto Press (Scholarly Publishing Division), 2003. (read reviews)

Cover of Braving the Street
Preview


Braving the Street: The Anthropology of Homelessness Co-author Irene Glasser. (Public Issues in Anthropological
Perspective, vol. 1.) New York: Berghahn Books,1999. Available
on-line. (read reviews)

Cover of Feminist Fields
Preview


Feminist Fields: Ethnographic Insights, co-editors Sally Cole and Heather Howard-Bobiwash. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. (read reviews)

Refereed Articles

Backpage: A Public Calling - Making a Plea for the Urban Outhouse. (Co-author, Wins Bridgman.) Canadian Architect (September): 50, 2018.

Public Toilets, Accessibility and Human Rights: A Winnipeg Pop-Up Campaign. (Co-author, Wins Bridgman.) Plan Canada (fall): 40-45, 2018.

The Playful City: Constructing a Typology for Urban Design Interventions. (Co-author, Gabrielle Donoff.) International Journal of Play 6(3): 294-307, 2017.

Planners Work in Mysterious Ways: Literary Tourism and the Imagination. Plan Canada (summer issue): 42-46, 2010.

Human Dignity on Main Street: Public Toilets in Canada. Plan Canada (spring issue): 27-30, 2010.

“The Peel Youth Village: Designing Transitional Housing for Homeless Suburban Youth.” In: Hulchanski, J. David; Campsie, Philippa; Chau, Shirley; Hwang, Stephen W.; Paradis, Emily (eds.) Finding Home: Policy Options for Addressing Homelessness in Canada (e-book. Toronto: Cities Centre, University of Toronto., 2010). (Available online http://www.homelesshub.ca/FindingHome.)

Response to Mary Madden's review article, 'Braving Homelessness on the Ethnographic Street with Irene Glasser and Rae Bridgman.' (Co-author, Irene Glasser.) Critique of Anthropology 25(2): 207-208, 2005.

Criteria for Best Practices in Building Child-Friendly Cities: Involving Young People in Urban Planning and Design. Canadian Journal of Urban Research 13(2): 337-346, 2004. (Available on-line.)

Child-Friendly Cities: Canadian Perspectives. Children, Youth and Environments 14(1): 178-200, 2004. (Available on-line; see also overview by InformeDesign: Where Research Informs Design)

Designing a “Village” for Suburban Homeless Youth in Canada. Open House International. 29(2): 62-70, 2004. (Available on-line.)

Bridging Public-Private Partnerships in a Case Study of Housing and Employment for Homeless Youth. Canadian Journal of Urban Research. 12(2): 205-230, 2003.

Housing Chronically Homeless Women: "Inside" a Safe Haven. Housing Policy Debate 13(1): 51-81, 2002. (Summary and full article.)

Is This a Hostel Or Is This a Home?: A Safe Haven for Homeless Women. IAPS (International Association of People-Environment Studies) Bulletin of People-Environment 19: 14-16, 2001.

I Helped Build That: A Demonstration Housing and Employment Training Program for Street Youth in Toronto. American Anthropologist 103(3): 779-795, 2001. (Available on-line or pdf)

Safe Haven for Chronically Homeless Women: A Model Program from Toronto. International Journal of Mental Health 30(2): 79-89, 2001.

Regulatory "Hurdles" in Conserving Heritage Property. (Co-author Wins Bridgman.) Canadian Journal of Urban Research 9(1): 23-41, 2000.

A "city" within the city: a Canadian housing model for the homeless. Open House International 23(1): 12-21, 1998.

The architecture of homelessness and utopian pragmatics. Utopian Studies 9(1): 50-67, 1998. (Available on-line.)

A case study of the artist as teacher through the video work of Martha Davis. Studies in Art Education 39(1): 37-56, 1997.

Street as metaphor in housing for the homeless. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness 6(1): 1-12, 1997.

Integrating residence and work in building codes in Canada. Open House International 21(2): 41-48, 1996.

Working at home in artists' housing co-operatives: negotiating social and spatial boundaries. Canadian Journal of Urban Research, 5(1): 51-72, 1996.

The artist's studio as a space of creativity. Canadian Review of Art Education 22(1): 56-80, 1995.

Janus unbound: maker, making, made and known. Anthropology and Humanism Quarterly 19(1): 67-76, 1994.



Chapters in Books

"We are the first youth": participatory planning in transitional housing for suburban homeless youth. In: Homing Devices: The Poor as Targets of Public Housing Policy & Practice, eds. marilyn m. thomas-houston and Mark Schuller. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2006.

Fieldnotes from "home": ethnography on exhibition. In: Design and the Social Sciences: Making Connections, ed. Jorge Frascara. Pp. 125-134. London and New York: Taylor & Francis, 2002.

Empowering students through feminist pedagogy. In: Voices from the Classroom: Reflections on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, eds. Janice Newton, Gerry Ginsburg, Jan Rehner, Pat Rogers, Susan Sbrizzi and John Spencer. Pp. 68-74. Toronto: Garamond Press, York University Book Store and the Centre for the Support of Teaching, 2001. (Refereed)

The testimony of a once homeless aboriginal woman: I can only start from my own story. In: Pushing the Margins: Native and Northern Studies, eds. Jill Oakes, Rick Riewe, Marlyn Bennett and Brenda Chisholm. Pp. 322-337. Winnipeg: Native Studies Press, University of Manitoba, 2000. (Refereed)

My Journey Home: Homeless and Aboriginal and a Woman. In: Aboriginal Health, Identity and Resources, eds. Jill Oakes, Rick Riewe, Skip Koolage, Leanne Simpson and Nancy Shuster, pp. 93-104. Winnipeg: Departments of Native Studies and Zoology ; and Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Manitoba, 2000. (Refereed)

The street gives and the street takes: the meaning of the "street" for those who are homeless. In: Therapeutic Landscapes: The Dynamic between Place and Wellness, edited by Allison Williams, pp. 153-166. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1999.

"Oh, so you have a home to go to?": designing a shelter for women street survivors. In: Feminist Fields: Ethnographic Insights, eds. Rae Bridgman, Sally Cole and Heather Howard-Bobiwash, pp. 103-116. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999. (Refereed)

More than mere shelter: incorporating art in housing for the homeless. In: Common Ground: Contemporary Craft, Architecture, and the Decorative Arts, ed. Gloria Hickey, pp. 104-111. Ottawa: Institute for Contemporary Canadian Craft and Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1999.

Reflections on crossing disciplines. In: Graduate Women's Studies: Visions and Realities, ed. Ann B. (Rusty) Shteir, pp. 70-77. Toronto: Inanna Publications and Education Inc., 1996.

Engendering the mask: three voices. In: Feminist Fields: Ethnographic Feminisms, eds. Sally Cole and Lynne Phillips, pp. 207-231. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1995. (Refereed)

Crow. Bride.: a re-interpretation of myth. In: Body Invaders: Sexuality and the Postmodern Condition, eds. Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, pp. 271-275. London: Macmillan Education Ltd., 1988. (Originally published in Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory XI(1-2) [1987]: l0-l3.)



Other Articles

CBC News - Opinion pieces co-authored with Wins Bridgman

Heritage Conservation Tax Incentives in Winnipeg (Encouragements fiscaux à la conservation du patrimoine à Winnipeg), co-author Wins Bridgman. Heritage/Patrimoine, vol. II, no. 2: 17-20, 1999.

To learn through teaching. Core (Newsletter of the Centre for the Support of Teaching, York University) 5(2) (March): 3, 1995.

Live/work policy and conservation. (Co-author, Winston Romaine Fritz.) ICOMOS Canada Bulletin I(3): 49-50, 1992.

Book Reviews

Designing for Kids: Creating for Playing, Learning and Growing, by Krystyna Castella. (Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Routled, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.) Co-author Matt Gowdar. Children, Youth & Environments 31(2): 59-160, 2021.

Children and Their Urban Environment: Changing Worlds, by Claire Freeman and Paul Tranter. (New York: Earthscan Publications, 2011.) Co-author, Ryan Segal. Children, Youth & Environments 24(3): 236-238, 2014.

Hobos, Hustlers, and Backsliders: Homeless in San Francisco by Teresa Gowan. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010). American Anthropologist 115(4): 692-693, 2013.

Child-Friendly Environments: Approaches and Lessons, edited by Liisa Horelli and Miretta Prezza. (Helsinki University of Technology, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Helsinki, 2004.) Journal of Environmental Psychology 25: 467-468, 2005.

Review of the American Planning Association (APA) Policy Guide on Homelessness, Plan Canada (March) 2005: 50.

Urban Planning in a Multicultural Society, edited by Michael A. Burayidi.(Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2000). Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 20(4):357-359, 2004.

Reading the Homeless: The Media's Image of Homeless Culture, edited by Eungjun Min. (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2000). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 10(1): 122-124, 2001.

Urban Planning in a Multicultural Society, edited by Michael A. Burayidi. (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2000). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 10(1): 98-102, 2001.

Tales of the City: A Study of Narrative and Urban Life, by Ruth Finnegan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 9(1):115-117, 2000.

Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities, by Leonie Sandercock, Leonie (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 8(1):108-111, 1999.

The Meeting Place: Aboriginal Life in Toronto, edited by Frances Sanderson and Heather Howard-Bobiwash (Toronto: Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, 1997). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 8(1):112-113, 1999.

Lines of Country: An Atlas of Railway and Waterway History in Canada, by Christopher Andreae (Erin, Ontario: The Boston Mills Press, 1997). CAPHC [Canadian Association of Professional Heritage Consultants] (summer/fall 1998): 8-9, 1998.

Setting Boundaries: The Anthropology of Spatial and Social Organization, edited by Deborah Pellow (Westport, Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey, 1995). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 6(2):225-227, 1997.

The Cultural Meaning of Urban Space, by Robert Rotenberg and Gary McDonogh (Westport, Connecticut/London: Bergin and Garvey, 1993). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 4(1): 168-169, 1995.

Boundaries of the City: The Architecture of Western Urbanism by Alan Waterhouse (Toronto/Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1993). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 4(1): 77, 1995.

Street Lives: An Oral History of Homeless Americans by Steven Vanderstaay (Philadelphia, PA/Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1992). Canadian Journal of Urban Research 3(1): 99-100, 1994.