Abstract

This heuristic study explores interviews with nine men who live and/or work on the streets of Seattle, Washington and reveals common themes of openness, God, self-awareness, and hopefulness. This study reviewed the scholarship of Andre Rochais' and Martin Buber's understanding of human, Paulo Freire's and Donaldo Macedo's concept of reading the world, and Primo Levi's and Elie Wiesel's writings among other scholars on the specific themes of human, genocide, and accountability. Human was philosophically drawn from Martin Buber's concepts of I-It and I-Thou and defined as an incarnate being who possesses the potential of choice. Genocide was broken down to the human experience of evil, objectification, institutional violence, and poverty. The data on human were gathered through tape-recorded interviews. An open-ended interview guide was used with the co-researchers. Vignettes were created as the synthesis of each interview that demonstrated the researcher's understanding of dialogue. Recommendations for future research and social implications are suggested