Ontologies of Socioenvironmental Justice Homelessness and the Production of Social Natures

Everyday experiences of the Hillside residents, individuals facing homelessness while living in a municipal park, provide a context of inquiry for both social and environmental justice. Ethnographic exploration of this sociopolitical and socioenvironmental setting illustrates the ontological complexities surrounding constructions of the nonhuman world, discursive and material realities, social and environmental justice, and homelessness. Ontological examinations of discursive and material nature provide a basis for exploring interrelationships between social and environmental justice, with the concepts becoming inextricably interconnected. The Hillside residents engage with nature in both externalized and relational ways, contesting their perceived statuses as "being homeless." Critical perspectives of social and environmental justice provide a conceptual framework for understanding lived experiences of homelessness under the social, political, and economic forces of capitalism.