Vagrancy

RWVagrancy

#essay, #wandering, #parasite, #stranger

Vagrancy: being homeless without regular income Until around the late 80s, vagrancy was illegal in western society, and living as a vagrant was punished with forced labour, military service or imprisonment. The fact that you relied on the care and hospitality of others, for food and shelter, would make you a parasite. I would say vagrancy, as such, can only exist in societies focused on economic growth and efficiency, in which the value of things depends upon their potential to be quantified.

Parasites Parasites obtain nutrients from their hosts, living on or in bodies of other organisms. Not killing their hosts but often weakening them.

The word ‘parasite’ comes from ‘parásitos’ in Greek; one who lives at another’s expense, a person who eats at the table of another in return for amusement and/or conversation. Not so different from hospitality, in which you are invited as well, so why it’s negative connotation?

Hospitality In every religion I know, it is preached that you should receive guests; strangers, relatives, rich or poor, and treat them with kindness, dignity, and respect. It seems that current societies have forgotten these values. Why have we become so scared of strangers?

according to https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/strange

Adjective /streɪndʒ/ unusual and unexpected, or difficult to understand

The Greek definition of ‘parasitos’ is different from parasites in the biological term: these organisms venture their host without an invitation.

Are humans a parasite to the earth? This is a question I am tempted to ask.

We are sucking out blood in forms of oil, gas, and coal. We scrape the surface of our host with bulldozers. We take down complete ecosystems, and see mother earth as a resource. We do not live in reciprocity, but in greed. And like a parasite, we haven’t killed our host yet but we sure are killing fellow species and weakening the earth day by day. It will keep spinning.

The question is: Will we survive our own parasitizing?

Vagrancy as social parasitism is considered negative Social Parasitism; when you contribute insufficientently to society. What insufficiently means depends on your world view and what is considered to be useless or threatening to the status quo. In the past you could be sentenced for social parasitism, and in the Soviet Union many intellectuals were charged, since writing poetry was not seen as a contribution to the state —especially not when it contained criticism of this state.

Vagrancy as a spiritual path is considered positive In (middle-) eastern religions you can find examples of monks living a vagrant life. Sadhus, in Hinduism and Jainism, dervishes of the Sufi fraternity of Islam, bhikkhus; Bhudist monks and scramanic traditions all get rid of possession in order to follow their spiritual path. They are seen

The Anarchy of Colored Girls Assembled in a Riotous Manner. W.W. Norton & Co, 2019. Wayward lives, beautiful experiments: [1] Hartman, Sadiya. Wayward: a short entry on the possible. W.W. Norton & Co, 2019. Wayward lives, beautiful experiments: [2] Hartman, Sadiya. as a meaningful contribution to society, or are even considered holy. The community donates food and gives them shelter. They are not punished but shown respect.

USA In the USA vagrancy, part of the Tenement House Law, was awfully used in a racist manner to suppress black women. According to Saidiya Hartman: ‘It was a ubiquitous charge that made it easy for the police to arrest and prosecute young women with no evidence of crime or act of lawbreaking. In the 1910s and 1920s, vagrancy statutes were used primarily to target young women for prostitution.’ (Hartman)

Vagrancy comes from vagus in Latin to vagari

meaning: wandering, roaming

Waywardness - Vagrancy To quote Sadiya Hartman: ‘Wayward: to wander, to be unmoored, adrift, rambling, roving, cruising, strolling, and seeking.’ (Hartman) This could also be the definition of vagrancy’s positive connotations. Waywardness does not always result in vagrancy, and vagrancy does not necessarily come out of waywardness. They do, in this case, manifest in the same way. To see vagrancy as a form of waywardness is not to diminish a life without a house and a steady income, but to see it as an opportunity to break free of the treadmill of the status quo. It is a way to question what is valuable and what is necessary.

Every time I wander in the night it is not dark, streetlights are bright. They peer through my eyelids and the windows of the houses. Always more lights on than expected. Away from the city, every step gets darker. Light does not come through my eyelids anymore it comes through my feet, my ears, my nose, and my skin. Vibrant inside out.