Creating home: Intersections of memory and identity

Abstract

The concepts of memory, identity, and place form key debates in geographical literature because they link people to place. Memory incorporates narratives of the past that are articulated in the present day and can inform the way identities are constructed. The intersections of memory and identity can prompt us to think about how we experience and/or have experienced place(s). In this review, I trace discussions that position memory and identity as meta‐concepts that coalesce with the home and home‐building practices. I situate this discussion in and around the home because the home is commonly our most frequented place. It is a place where our person‐place bonds develop through everyday encounters and practices. I explore how memory, identity, and place have been broached in the home by using more‐than‐representational approaches. I have turned to more‐than‐representational theory to flesh out how enactments and encounters with objects and other materialities in the home demonstrate agency and connections to the home, which are indicative of memory and identity in action. Sensory and material encounters provoke remembrances and identifications with home(lands) through objects, people, food, and places that hold particular resonance among migrants.

Feeling global belonging: Sensorial experiences in global education

“…The importance of the multisensory experiences in shaping meaning and value to place has been widely discussed (see Crang and Tolia-Kelly, 2010;Cresswell, 2004;Kale et al, 2019;O'Neill and Hubbard, 2010). While Ratnam (2018) stated that habitual practices create memories which shape identities, here the two combine, with ritualized exposure to unfamiliar sensorial experiences expanding one's sensory palate, reshaping what is deemed familiar and creating shared memories. These sensorial memories are felt collectively, thus bonding groups through the shared experience (Sharma, 2011).…”

Securing materials at international borders: exploring the biosecurity practices of Nepalese migrants to Australia

“…Preparation for travel of any kindwhether for work, leisure or migrationcontributes to the types of experiences that people might expect during and after transit. Studies of migration have shown that material belongings play a vital role in the experiences that people have, in processes of homemaking, maintaining connections to homeland, familial relations and sense of culture and identity (Barry 2018;Burrell 2017;Ratnam 2018;Tolia-Kelly 2004). Packing for international relocation involves selecting objects to bring with you, and assembling these into suitcases, backpacks or shipping boxes.…”

“…Building a new 'home', whether permanent or temporary, is an important part of migration in sustaining one's identity and connection to culture. For those who are not migrating permanently, particularly for international students or other temporary visa holders, personal belongings may magnify connections to family and distant or past homes, and are crucial in forming a sense of belonging and connections to culture (Ratnam 2018). Findlay et al (2017) show how familial and social institutions of international student migrants, in both the origin and destination society, facilitate and complicate the motivations, mobility and lifestyle before and after completion of their study.…”

“…However, for those travelling with the purpose of migrating, the assortment of items that one brings with them can and does vary greatly. The unknown of what life in a new country will be like, compounded by anticipated changes to social, cultural and familial routines, means that often people bring a wide range of household goods and items with them to establish their new home (see Burrell 2017;Ratnam 2018). Arriving with ample baggage, even when declaring these materials, presents an often lengthy and complicated process of declaring at Australian customs, and having all of one's belongings sorted and searched through by customs officers.…”

Homemaking: Radical nostalgia and the construction of a South Asian diaspora, AnindyaRaychaudhuri. Rowman & Littlefield International, London, 2018. £75.00 (Hardback), ISBN 9781783482627, pp. 1–202.

“…As migrants navigate new and unfamiliar surroundings, the home can be national or local, real and imagined, or left behind and recreated. In many instances, migrants are left to recreate their homes to elicit feelings of familiarity, comfort, belonging, and security (Hage, 1997; Ratnam, 2018). In this recent book, Anindya Raychaudhuri steps the reader through the fluid process of homemaking for the South Asian diaspora by means of a focus on nostalgia.…”