Title:
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Significant objects in migrants' experience
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Objects are involved in complex overlapping relations of significance and the
programme of research examines how the choices and arrangement of
significant objects articulates self-identity across discontinuity in life
experience. In-depth interviews with migrants and the ancestors of migrants in
the living rooms of their homes focus on objects and furniture to examine the
role of the object in supporting identity in differing degrees of migratory
dislocation. The research investigates the role of the object as both internal
and external supports through migration and re-integration through different
generations.
The investigation draws on key literatures in anthropology, philosophy and
creative writing to support issues concerning the transition caused through
migration and the structuring of the home in a new cultural environment. The
first chapter explores how generic social meaning attached to objects
becomes less relevant as the relationship between the individual and the
object deepens through the passage of time. The second chapter examines
patterns concerning the arrangement and selection of objects in the living
room and how the physical interaction with objects structure memory and
supports a personal narrative. The third chapter examines how objects and
furniture are used to define the life-stages through the process of migration
and become indicators of a personal history. A subculture is identified that
both assimilates the cultural experience of their country of birth and their
migrant ancestry.
In conclusion, the relationship between these discussions demonstrates how
significant objects are used by the individual to develop and define memories
and thoughts. This study contributes to the literature of material culture by
identifying the layering of memories attached to significant objects and how
objects are used as personal supports through discontinuity caused by cultural
dislocation and act as a catalyst for the inter-gene rational transfer of memories
and cultural inheritance.
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