Conference Schedule

Unhomed, Unhoused, Homeless: An Interdisciplinary Conference

Thursday, Feb. 29

8–9 p.m. 
Reception

Rohr’s, Morris Inn

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Friday, March 1

All events at McKenna Hall unless otherwise noted

8–9:30 a.m.
Registration and coffee reception

9:30 a.m.
Welcome

Pamela Robertson Wojcik, Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, University of Notre Dame

9:45–11 a.m.
Historical Forms of Homelessness

Chair: Dan Graff, Higgins Labor Program, University of Notre Dame

• “‘No home to go to’: Houselessness and Homelessness in Victorian Literature”
  Trish Bredar, Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Northwestern University
• “Vagrancy and Homelessness in Early-20th-Century California”
  James Deutsch, Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
• “Ubiquitous: The Tramp’s Mobile Masculinity”
  Pamela Robertson Wojcik, Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, University of Notre Dame

11 a.m.–noon
Keynote 1

Introduction: Lauren Engates (Class of 2026), Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

Moderator: Eli Servais (Class of 2024), Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

• “If You Want to Solve Homelessness, You Have to Solve Climate Change”
  Philip Sakimoto, director of the minor in sustainability at the University of Notre Dame

Noon–1 p.m.
Lunch

1–2:15 p.m.
Policy Critiques

Chair: Margaret Pfeil, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame

• “Redefining Economic Mobility: Barriers and Solutions for Homeless Populations”
  Shiloh Capone, executive director of Street Samaritans
• “Why Has No One Thought About This?: Blind Spots in American Homelessness Policy”
  Veronica Vos, independent scholar
• “Policing Spectrality: Sensing Techniques of the Carceral State”
  Toby Smith, Cultural Studies, University of California Davis, Sacramento

2:30–3:30 p.m.
Keynote 2

“Faces of Homelessness”

Introduction and moderator: Joey Kositzke (class of 2025), Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

• Jeffrey A. Wolin, Ruth N. Halls Professor Emeritus of Photography, Indiana University

3:45–5 p.m.
Mediated Interventions

Chair: Pamela Wojcik, Department of Film, Television and Theatre, University of Notre Dame

• “Stay Home”
  Emeer Hassanpour, Cinema Studies, University of Southern California
• “Immersive Empathy: Co-Creating Immersive Narratives on Home and Homelessness”
  Conn Holohan, Centre for Creative Technologies, University of Galway
• “Evaluating Documentaries as Interventions to Reduce the Stigma of Homelessness”
  Matt Gannon, Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, and Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation, University of Oxford

7 p.m.
Conference Dinner

Rohr’s, Morris Inn

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SATURDAY, March 2

All events at McKenna Hall unless otherwise noted

9–10:45 a.m.
Filmic Representations

Chair: Francisco Robles, Department of English, University of Notre Dame

• “Homelessness in the Film Work of Michelangelo Antonioni” (via Zoom)
  Pete Spence, Sheffield Hallam University
• “From the Inside: The Hybrid Films of Lionel Rogosin”
  Ted Barron, Department of Film, Television and Theatre, University of Notre Dame
•  “The Motel as a Site and Symbol of Precarious Dwelling in Post-2008 American Independent Film”
  Danielle Rae Childs, Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick

11 a.m.–noon
Keynote 3

Chair: Dan Kelly, Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, University of Notre Dame

• “Homelessness is a Housing Problem” (via Zoom)
  Gregg Colburn, University of Washington College of Built Environments 

Noon–1 p.m.
Lunch

1–2 p.m.
Keynote 4

Introduction: Lucy Bullock (Class of 2026), Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

Moderator: Shannon Lipscomb (Class of 2025), Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

•  “A Politics of Reciprocity: Queer Histories of ‘Kids on the Street’”
  Joseph Plaster, curator in public humanities and director of the Winston Tabb Special Collections Research Center, Johns Hopkins University

2:15–3:30 p.m.
Homelessness and Youth

Chair: Pam Butler, Gender Studies Program, University of Notre Dame

• “Stuck Between Stations: The Bystander’s Glimpse in Heaven Knows What”
  Morgan Harper, Cinema Studies Institute, University of Toronto 
• “The Cardboard City Sleep Out: Performing Precarity for Middle-Class Youth”
  Meredith A. Bak, Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University
• “Trauma-informed Homeless Services for LGBTQ”
  Jordan Goodwin, Rutgers School of Social Work

3:45–5 p.m.
Policy Solutions

Chair: Chris Hedlin, Sheedy Family Program in Economy, Enterprise, and Society, University of Notre Dame

• “Do Homelessness Prevention Programs Prevent Homelessness? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial”
  David Phillips, Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, Department of Economics, University of Notre Dame
• "A Tale of Two South Bend Housing Projects: Social Housing vs. For-Profit Housing with Government Money”
  Annie Mannix, housing consultant
• "Housing and the Common Good"
  Margaret Pfeil, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame

5–6 p.m.|
Wrap up and reception