Homes and Paths: Notes on Finding Place in Consumer Anthropology

Abstract

Homes are often the site of research in business anthropology. The relatively brief time frames of much consumer research can lead to a perception of stability of space-time rather than one of indeterminacy and flux. In this article I explore examples of such flows in the home and how they are actively produced. Following Latour, Ingold, and other theorists, I examine the co-creation of "home" by human and non-human actors in order to destabilize the concept and to open our research to richer possibilities and greater habitability.

Blue-Collar Personhood After the Factory

“…It is maintained through the interpretation of self as a competent worker. Th e personalization of one's habitat: the 'upgradings, DIY projects, landscaping, and more-are signifi ers of identity, if not aspirations for class mobility' (Browne 2014 ;see also Attfi eld 2000 ). Th e competent worker engages in personal production, but that production is not possible without recourse to a mutually acknowledging and recognizable blue-collar personhood.…”

Informal Economy: Going Underground but Coming Out of the Shadows

“…Informality is then compared to the do-it-yourself (DIY) practices described previously that seemingly serve no economic purpose but which cement ethical dispositions of autonomy and ingenuity. Th ese values are meaningful for workers not as atomized individuals, competing with each other for status or money; the practices of decoration are valued as social goods in themselves, as contributing to habitability both practically and symbolically (Browne 2014 ;Attfi eld 2000 ). In this way the economic imperatives of informal work are tempered by a social and moral understanding of practice that lies beyond economistic reasoning (Morris 2012a, b , Keat 2000.…”