ABSTRACT
Ordinary objects, such as a worn road atlas kept in the trunk of a car, can be portents in our lives; with them we can see, most often in retrospect, who it is that we have become. Talking with people about objects can be like pulling on a tiny thread: one inquiring tug and the story comes free. An object is no longer just an object; an object is suddenly a complex creation composed of semiotic, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual qualities. In her book Misplaced Objects: Migrating Cultures and Recollections in Europe and the Americas, Silvia Spitta explores the role of objects as cultural signifiers and silent partners in migration, accompanying us throughout life, from one place to another, one culture to another, one time of life to another. Objects are vehicles of intimate and inward narratives, they are memory-embodying, and to them we imbue the cultural meanings of the people and practices of the places where we once lived.
