Home Is Where…?

Using sensory methods to explore home, heritage and identity in the everyday lives of migrant,

refugee and asylum seeking women in Glasgow

Follow your nose…

“It’s polish cabbage, it’s one of the favourite meals. It stinks horrible when you are cooking

it but I’m used to that”

Who?

THE EVERYDAYMIGRATION, IDENTITY, HOME-MAKING

What?• Photo-elicitation interviews• 7 so far• Women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 60s/70s• Range of backgrounds (MRAS) and reasons

for being in Glasgow, all of which shapes their experiences of home-making

Why?“I thought it would be a good idea because

migrants don’t always get a lot of voice in things like…you don’t often see the person behind the

statistics, you usually hear the word ‘migrant’…It makes you feel a bit humanised”

PEOPLEPLACES

THINGS

FAMILIARITY & TIME

MIGRATION, HOME, IDENTITY, THE EVERYDAY

Things“We like to eat on the floor. This is our traditional way of eating….We do this everyday…We find it more comfortable. And you feel like you are in your country. Brings nice memories.…Some people who have been here for a long time, they’ve been…I mean…you see that life has been turned to more *laughs* more Scottish, than being Iraqi or Arabic…” (Haya)

People

“ You don’t know people unless you go out. Unless you are in touch with them. You have to.” (Huda)

“The kids…when I see my kids happy, I also feel happy. It doesn’t matter where that is. As long as they are happy I am happy.” (Haya)

“So how did you choose what to take pictures of?I choose because, you know, my kids are my world. So…I always think ‘they must be happy’” (Dahabo)

Why did you take this picture?to show you the international approach of the church. I do feel good there. I do feel very safe there. They keep underlining that they are for everybody.” (Alice)

Facilitated and Everyday

“We had client there before, the client was just on the other side of the street and they were calling this lady by name, they were friendly, and that is how I got friendly with them. This lady she is not alive any more, but I still know more personally the staff. It does make you feel better. Why?

Mmm…cos I’m somebody for them, not nobody. I think that’s why.”

“At that time I just have Somali friends. Nothing else. Just I coming home, going my work, going Somali house, nothing else. Just like…all my activity something I doing…it was like, 2, 3 things every day. So…now it’s really good. I have maybe….hundreds of friends! We can go outside to the park, in kids activity place and really amazing.” (Dahabo)

Places / Spaces“So how does this picture make you feel?

I like it because…I dunno…when I see it I feel comfortable, I feel comfortable and…especially when I see these flags that say

‘people make Glasgow’, it’s nice.”

“That’s my wall. It’s beautiful. You see, it has, that’s green thing growing, and over the year…it is changing! So this is the wall, but in the winter it is getting like, black-grey, but when the spring comes it gets covered in this light green and it’s green all year, like later, and it is beautiful. It looks weird but no.” (Alice)

Place as Symbol“This is the view from my window…this is part of my life as well because it’s…what I wake up and see in the morning…this picture just reminds me

of like…it’s a new day”

Place as Symbol

“Open spaces makes me think of home because we had like, meadows like this…so open spaces make me think of home and maybe in some ways makes me feel

like home…makes me like, think of open spaces, which we had in my, my hometown, and I guess seeing them makes me feel more familiar with a place.

” (Judith)

“It’s kind of become part of my…life or routine!...it’s where I walk… I cross this road so many times I’ve seen all these stores so many times…in that way it’s become part of my life, it’s things you see…How does that familiarity make you feel about your life in Glasgow?good in the sense that I have something that I am familiar with, bad in the sense like…like I said, today it’s steady and… tomorrow I don’t know if it’s going to disappear…” (Alexis)

Familiarity

• Drawing on old familiarities to make sense of strangeness

• Escaping to old familiarities at time when current situation does not feel good or familiar or how you imagined / want it to be

• Becoming familiar with unfamiliarities through time and interaction

TimeRepetitionRoutine

HabitTime and Familiarity

Thank You!

Twitter: @Ruth_WebberEmail: rw216@le.ac.uk

Blog: uepinglasgow.wordpress.com

“You need to feel that, the world really it’s a small, small village.

Belong to all of us” (Huda)