Creating home: Intersections of memory and identity

• Published in: Geography compass Vol. 12; no. 4
• Main Author: Ratnam, Charishma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2018
• Subjects: Broaching; Coalescing; Intersections; Migrants
• ISSN: 1749-8198; 1749-8198
• DOI: 10.1111/gec3.12363

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.