Global movement is commonly characterized as one of the quintessential experiences of our age. Market forces, territorial conflicts and environmental changes uproot an increasing number of people, while mass communication, travel, tourism, and a global market of commodities, texts, tastes, fashions and ideologies place individuals more than ever in a global arena. As traditional conceptions of individuals as members of stationary, fixed and separate societies and cultures no longer convince, to what extent does movement become central to individuals’ self-conceptions? How do people cultivate, negotiate, nurture and maintain an identity? To what extent do individuals become ‘migrants of identity’ whose home is movement?
Defining ‘home’ as ‘where one best knows oneself’, this pioneering book explores the various ways in which people perceive themselves to be ‘at home’ in today’s world. Through a series of case studies, authors show that for a world of travellers, labour migrants, exiles and commuters, ‘home’ comes to be found in behavioural routines and techniques, in styles of dress and address, in memories, myths and stories, in jokes and opinions. In short, people who live their lives in movement make sense of their lives as movement.
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Pt. I | Opening a Debate | |
| The Topic and the Book | 3 | |
| Home and Movement: A Polemic | 19 | |
| Pt. II | Perceptions of Identity in a World of Movement | |
| 1 | Risky Hiatuses and the Limits of Social Imagination: Expatriacy in the Cayman Islands | 39 |
| 2 | Coming Home to a Dream: A Study of the Immigrant Discourse of 'Anglo-Saxons' in Israel | 61 |
| 3 | Homeless at Home: Narrations of Post-Yugoslav Identities | 85 |
| 4 | The Metaphor of 'Home' in Czech Nationalist Discourse | 111 |
| 5 | Imaging Children 'At Home', 'In the Family' and 'At School': Movement Between the Spatial and Temporal Markers of Childhood Identity in Britain | 139 |
| 6 | Domestic Appropriations: Multiple Contexts and Relational Limits in the Home-making of Greater Londoners | 161 |
| 7 | New Identities and the Local Factor - or When is Home in Town a Good Move? | 181 |
| 8 | The Dislocation of Identity: Contestations of 'Home Community' in Northern England | 207 |
| Pt. III | Initiating a Response | |
| Epilogue: Contested Homes: Home-making and the Making of Anthropology | 225 | |
| List of Contributors | 237 | |
| Index | 239 |
Overview
Global movement is commonly characterized as one of the quintessential experiences of our age. Market forces, territorial conflicts and environmental changes uproot an increasing number of people, while mass communication, travel, tourism, and a global market of commodities, texts, tastes, fashions and ideologies place individuals more than ever in a global arena. As traditional conceptions of individuals as members of stationary, fixed and separate societies and cultures no longer convince, to what extent does ...