ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 presents the stories of families from an African-Caribbean background who talk about personal experiences of the front room of their childhood as they grapple with questions about home, immigration, racism, identity and their future in the UK. The West-Indian Front Room exhibition at the Museum of the Home was used as a focal point to assemble the experiences of their families, friends and community into themes and construct narratives that helped them make sense of their common experiences, their past, present and future lives. These narratives reflect how they used the exhibition on their own terms – through weaving elements of the exhibition into their own familial and community stories – as well as their perceived notions of change and continuity in the course of the life of their family as well as of their community in the UK context. A key element of the personal and/or family narratives is that they are related to communal histories and embrace issues and concerns of the wider community.
