ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how senses of self and belonging to home are moulded, supported or challenged by self/other relationships which are formed through perceptions of similarity and difference, focusing on the more immediate scenario of responses to recent residents. Unlike the imagined (and assumed to be long-dead) presences of the home’s earlier pasts, recent inhabitants offer possibilities for ‘fleshed out’ encounters and leave behind more specific material traces. Considering this more contemporary form of heritage in the home reflects forms of ‘inheritance’ which are often ongoing, encompassing the home’s presents and futures as well as its pasts. People’s encounters with these more recent residents often start with the point when one inhabitant leaves and the next enters a home—particularly at the transfer or exchange of ownership. The moment of exchange or transfer can be a fraught or pleasant experience, and despite its brevity, can have profound effects, suggesting that the previous owners hold power to confer forms of blessing—or curses.
