Homeless at heart, and in mind: Exploring Citizenship and Mattering

Abstract

In this article wediscuss how the concept of mattering may apply to ‘citizenship work’ and enhance efforts to help people experience connectedness. We take a dialogical autoethnographic approach (first author), seeking to describe and systematically analyze personal experience to understand cultural experience, followed by a commentary (second author) reflecting on key points. We argue that it is important for the person to maintain or attain a balance between adding value to others and to oneself through the citizenship approach, and emphasize the importance of identity formation for individuals engaged in the work of shifting their self-perspective from patient to citizen. We want to communicate the importance of the concept of mattering as a component of citizenship that has been lacking or undeveloped to date. This process, we contend, calls for further exploration in citizenship work and research. Keywords: Citizenship, mattering, mental health, identity

Homeless at heart, and in mind: Exploring Citizenship and Mattering