Violence, experiences, and expressions in people who live on the streets’ subjectivities. A systematic review

Abstract

This is a systematic review of the literature about life experiences, bodily experiences, the expression of subjectivity and the social dynamics that converge in the processes of living on the street (Homelessness, street dwellers) in Colombia and Latin America. Methodology: The bibliographical field presented here is found under the publication frame time between 2007 and 2023, it is limited to research articles, degree projects and states of the art consulted in the accessible databases (and whose content refers to social sciences) from the integrated search engine of the Externado de Colombia University library (EBSCO); which were: Redalyc, Dialnet, Open Access Theses and Dissertations. Results and discussion: it is found that the definition of the concept of "street dweller" (or homeless person) is multiple, diverse, contextual, historical and problematic, also that the construction of the homeless people vital experiences is usually framed in discussions about health, the guarantee of rights and the social tensions experienced by this population: such as violence, exclusion, discrimination and stigma. Furthermore, another finding in the bibliographic field was the importance of spaces, territories, places, non-places and the corporality as an opportunity to express subjectivities. Conclusions: it concludes with some academic production general notes and the discussions articulated in five emerging categories to organize the information, also offers proposals for future research on the subject.