ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the notions of home and house in the context of the migration experience. It refers to settlement in the social, cultural, and personal sense, as it is linked to issues of identity, belonging, and home-building. It is easier perhaps to grasp settlement through understanding belonging and home-building. The two categories, dynamic nature and diversity of home, are focused on diverse meanings of home as related to the migration experience and are linked to its social, psychological, and imaginary nature. One important framework has been developed by feminist scholars who emphasised gender constructions as crucial in lived experiences and imaginaries of home. Studies of material culture have attracted interests from different disciplines. One subject within studies of material culture has been the home. Materialities of home, namely the structure of the house, as well as the objects and possessions people have in their houses, have been a specific focus of study.
