ABSTRACT
This chapter includes ethnographic description and structural analysis to reconstruct the world of family, kinship, and poverty in an American heartland community. Money for poverty research was suddenly available and it was good fortune to be working for a multidisciplinary research institute that was renowned for its ground-breaking work on educating marginal populations. Funding had been found for developing programs that would meet the educational needs of poor children, and in keeping with the multidisciplinary nature of the institute, sociologists and psychologists would be expected to make their contribution. The buildings' disrepair communicated the economic despair and marginality of their owners. The cabins could have appealed to only the most destitute of travellers, while the florist shop, with the freshness and beauty of its flowers, seemed out of place. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
