5. People, objects, and identity

‘People, objects, and identity’ considers how the home is a major focus in the construction of self-identity and how people carve out home space even within institutions. It suggests that a home is always a house plus many other ingredients, but a house is a home minus many elements. These elements include the people who matter to us and the objects we choose to keep in our homes. The links between home, objects, and personal identity are dramatically illustrated by two stories focusing on the Holocaust. They demonstrate that destroying homes and their occupants’ ties to place also amount to erasing things that mould identities and create networks of memories.

2. The importance of place

Home is a place, so when thinking about home, our concept of place needs to be stretched in order to accommodate quite different dimensions of meaning. ‘The importance of place’ considers the range of home sizes; the concepts of embeddedness and placelessness; and the impact of landscapes, ecosystems, and bioregions in shaping inhabitants’ lives and cultures. The momentousness of place in shaping human evolution, history, the distinctiveness of cultural groups, present-day political realities, and the character of individual lives cannot be overestimated. What we think of a place and enjoy or lament about it is determined by a great many factors, which shape our sense of what and where we call home.

7. Homelessness and uprootedness

No discussion of home is complete without taking account of homelessness. ‘Homelessness and uprootedness’ discusses the different categories of homelessness: those who chronically have no home; those who no longer have a place to call home because of circumstances; migrants who have had more than one place to call home, but confront issues of who they are and where they truly belong; and those who are spiritually homeless. It also considers the ‘unmooring’ of modern culture: how much of present-day life is characterized by fragmentation of interests, cynicism, a sense of exile, alienation and disillusionment, and lack of faith in authorities. Having a home can never be taken for granted.

4. Remembering, imagining, and other mindwork

What we put into our concept of home through acts of memory and imagination is an enormous part of what home means to us. ‘Remembering, imagining, and other mindwork’ looks at reviving the past through remembering the home; nostalgia; and what returning home means to us. It also considers homes as symbolic expressions. Homes communicate from within, by virtue of their patterns of placement, construction, and use; and they are interpreted from without, according to certain presuppositions and perspectives. Homes model, mirror, elaborate, symbolize, appropriate, and incorporate meanings from the world at large. In these ways, home is connected with larger spheres of existence and narrative, establishing cultural identity.

8. The future of home

There are indefinitely numerous new ideas and technologies that might develop and improve the quality of life if humans have the good sense to protect their planet’s health, learn to live in peace with one another, and choose to share resources and opportunities more equitably. Only in this way will there be a future that is worth living in. ‘The future of home’ reviews the central ideas of home and the concept that home is universal and essential for grounding ourselves in the world. We can expect homes—whatever their type—to exist and continue serving the same needs in the future as they have always done.

3. Dwelling and dwellings

Dwelling is both an activity and a location in which that activity takes place. ‘Dwelling and dwellings’ considers some of the many types of abodes in which dwelling has occurred or does so today, and reflects further on the deep significance that may be attached to dwelling. It looks at the shape and function of areas of the home and how previous dwellers of a home may affect the dwelling for future inhabitants. It also discusses the transient accommodation of nomadic peoples. It concludes that homes provide ways of connecting with one another, with our surroundings, and with the history of the place we are in.

1. The many faces of home

Homes are central to human life, but defining what home is can be problematic. Home is a fundamental and universal concept, yet it has multiple associated and layered meanings for different people in a great range of circumstances. ‘The many faces of home’ considers the somewhat elusive notion of home. It looks at the many origins of the word ‘home’, how home is understood in other languages, positive and negative attitudes to home, and the concepts of parochialism and cosmopolitanism. It concludes that home, for all of its immediate and more traditional associations, is actually a multi-faceted, problematic notion, and for many, an almost undefinable thing.

6. Home politics

Home politics affects anyone who lives with other people, because transforming a space into a home involves negotiations of various sorts. Wherever people live together, there is bound to be a regime for gaining power and advantage or agreeing to share them. ‘Home politics’ outlines how the boundaries between public and private life are blurred by utilities and electronic technologies and also considers how roles in the home are negotiated and how they have changed over time. Reconciliation of interests and harmonious cohabitation are challenging projects. The issue of domestic abuse is discussed along with the lasting effects of colonization and the politics relating to homelands and home occupancy.