Public art with religious themes or inspiration often represents, promotes, or challenges the concerns, values, characteristics, and/or history of the community in which this art is situated. This dissertation explores the contribution of public religious art to generating dialogue about social issues, in particular homelessness. It builds on scholarship indicating that publicly engaged art is a catalyst for promoting mutual understanding among diverse stakeholders with differing worldviews and joins an ongoing scholarly debate about the place of religion in a secular democratic society. As a case study, I use Timothy Schmalz’s bronze sculpture entitled Homeless Jesus, as an example of public art intended to generate public awareness about social marginalization and homelessness. Situated within the critical paradigm, this dissertation uses a case study methodology to explore the ways faith-based organizations and secular media elicit and use meanings through the representation of sculpture in public and mediated spaces. To gain multiple vantage points for examining the meanings and uses of Homeless Jesus, this case study draws on interviews with faith leaders at organizations who have a replica or are located near the replica in Hamilton, Ontario (n=12), online news articles that reference it (n=85), and photos of replicas in six urban locations. Data analysis proceeded through three stages: an iconography, a narrative inquiry, and a thematic analysis. This case study culminates in insights on the relationship between public religious art and public dialogues on social issues, such as homelessness. Findings indicate that public religious art is a mode in which faith-based organizations seek to contribute to public dialogues about social issues in a manner that is accessible and acceptable to those with differing worldviews. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Public art with religious themes or inspiration can represent, promote, or challenge the concerns, values, identity, and/or history of the communities in which it is situated. Using Timothy Schmalz’s bronze sculpture entitled Homeless Jesus, as an example of public religious art intended to generate awareness about homelessness, this dissertation explores the contribution of public religious art to public dialogues about social issues. To understand how faith-based organizations and secular media interpret and use Homeless Jesus, I analyze photos of replicas, online news articles that reference it, and interviews with faith leaders at organizations that have a replica or are located near the replica in Hamilton, Ontario. Findings indicate that faith-based organizations use art to contribute to public dialogues in a manner they hope is accessible to and respectful of those with differing worldviews.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka hur ett projekt startas upp, leds och drivs då det är kopplat till socialt arbete och efterbehandling för hemlösa kvinnor med missbruksproblematik. Bakgrunden är en tidigare b-uppsats som visade på brister i eftervården för dessa kvinnor. Examensarbetet har gjorts genom en litteraturstudie där vi undersökt projekt och projektledning, samt en halvstrukturerad personlig intervju och en telefonintervju med en nyckelperson med erfarenhet av projektarbete. Resultatet visade på att det är viktigt med samarbete och nätverk då det oftast finns många aktörer som kan hjälpa målgruppen, så som socialtjänsten, beroendecenter samt Röda Korset. Genom ett lösningsfokuserat arbete och en upplevelsebaserad metod kan målgruppen få hjälp att komma tillbaka in i samhället och få ett självständigt och värdigare liv. I projekt är det även viktigt med uppföljningar och utvärderingar för att man ska få en lärdom och en kunskapsbas genom projektet, då kan projektet bistå framtida liknande projekt. För att undvika problem i projektet är det viktigt med tydliga mål, roller och ansvarsfördelningar. Om dessa områden tidigt klargörs kan många framtida problem undanröjas. / The purpose of this paper was to examine how a project is being started, led and executed when it is connected to social work and post-rehabilitation of homeless women with a substance abuse. The background of this paper lies in a former paper on B-level that showed a lack in the post-rehabilitation of these women. This was done with the help of a literature study where projects and project management has been examined, a semi-structured personal interview and a telephone interview with a key person who had experience with project management. The result showed the importance of collaboration and networking though there are often many participants that can help the target group, such as social service, addiction-centers and organizations like the Red Cross. Through solution-focused work and experience based method the target group can achieve a way back into society and get an independent and worthy life. In projects it is of great importance to follow up and evaluate to gain learning and knowledge throughout the process, only then the project can contribute with wisdom and experience to other future projects. To avoid problems it is important to stake out clear goals, roles and responsibility-divisions. If these areas are straightened out early in the project a lot of future difficulties can be eliminated.

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Much of the existing research on violence against homeless women has concluded that homeless women are particularly vulnerable to violence and experience victimization at rates often exceeding the rates of housed women. Little research, however, has focused upon the specific risk factors that expose homeless women to physical assault, rape, and stalking. Utilizing a sample of 737 homeless women from the Florida cities of Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami, this study investigated the risk factors for experiencing adult personal victimization. The characteristics of homelessness, demographics, drug and alcohol use, subsistence activities, childhood victimization, mental health status, and criminal activities were examined as predictors of violence. The results indicate that over three-quarters of the sample had experienced violence, physical, sexual, or stalking, as adults. Consistent with prior research, childhood sexual abuse and time spent in jail or prison were significant predictors of violence. However, contrary to prior research, severe childhood physical abuse did not predict adult violence. Rather, the key childhood predictors of adult violence appear to center upon abuse that is primarily emotional in nature. Also contrary to prior research, the excessive use of alcohol or illicit drugs and engaging in risky subsistence activities did not predict violence. The results also imply that the women's experiences of violence may precipitate their episodes of homelessness, indicating that the violence is a cause of their homelessness. Violence against women continues to be a significant social problem particularly among especially vulnerable populations such as homeless women. Such violence deserves the attention of service providers such as healthcare workers, social services, and criminal justice systems.