Rebecca Burnett, PhD, University of Washington
How do those in poverty make ends meet in the United States today and how do public and private safety nets and survival strategies differ across states and localities? What are the effects of a growing poverty wage service sector on the opportunities and identities of low-income families? What is the relationship between poverty and the structure of urban landscapes? These are the questions at the heart of my research. I examine the ways in which the production of poverty and control of the poor intersect with neoliberal governance and poverty management to constitute particular political subjects and material conditions. I am interested in how public assistance and low-wage labor work in tandem to maintain the vulnerability of impoverished and working poor families. Further, I investigate how discourses about who is poor and why reinforces the control of the poor and bolsters class boundaries. Utilizing feminist, critical race and relational poverty theories, my research calls for approaches to alleviating poverty that address the role of race, gender, space and the political economy in influencing the livelihoods of the poor. I argue that to address growing income inequality, American poverty scholars must also utilize the strategies of not just peer academics but also of researchers and activists in the global north and global south. My two research sites, Kansas City and Seattle, reflect my dedication to effect change in the places I have called home.
Contact: rburnett@uw.edu
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