Dwelling

Beschreibung

Dwelling is both an action and a location; it combines the spatial idea of habitation (dwelling in) with the temporal idea of lingering (dwelling on). We live not only in bricks and mortar, a tent, a hut or a spaceship, but also in that most changeful of forms, our body, or in a remembered or virtual home. Especially since COVID-19 we have seen changes in the topography of everyday life. In this multi-disciplinary collection, a complex of meanings is approached from a variety of specific, often personal angles. Framed by two longer essays which theorise how the psychology of home may change under sudden pressure and how social relations are embodied in windows, doors, walls and stairs, the book includes 18 further essays. Part I, ‘Informal settlements’, shows how a slum, urban development or nomadic life may create a self-sustaining identity; in Part II, ‘Huts and bridges’, impermanence shapes the state of dwelling, while Part III, ‘Liminal bodies’, presents bodies suspended at thresholds of change. Movement in time and space characterises the last three sections: Part IV, ‘Moving home’, depicts transitions and arrivals, Part V, ‘Dwelling in Memory’, focuses on recollections of past places and Part VI, ‘Are we there yet?’, points the way to a future in which the consulting-room changes to 2D, a family is exiled onto the small screen or we imagine breaking away altogether into outer space.
Orsolya Katalin Petőcz is a PhD student in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. She explores queer testimonies across literature and the visual arts, with a focus on the accounts of survivors of World War II. Her work centres on sexuality, the Holocaust and migration. Her research articles have been published in Italian Studies, French Cultural Studies and Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies. Her co-authored piece ‘(Un)Desired Others’ (2023) is related to her new project, the study of the stigma of promiscuity in the testimonies of Eastern European Holocaust survivors. 
Naomi Segal is Professor Emerita at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies. She founded the IGRS in 2004 and represented the UK in the European Science Foundation 2005–2011. She researches in comparative cultural studies and is the author of 19 books, including monographs Consensuality: Didier Anzieu, Gender and the Sense of Touch (2009), André Gide: Pederasty and Pedagogy (1998), The Adulteress’s Child (1992) and Narcissus and Echo (1988). She is currently completing a monograph on replacement.

Dwelling is both an action and a location; it combines the spatial idea of habitation (dwelling in) with the temporal idea of lingering (dwelling on). We live not only in bricks and mortar, a tent, a hut or a spaceship, but also in that most changeful of forms, our body, or in a remembered or virtual home. Especially since COVID-19 we have seen changes in the topography of everyday life. In this multi-disciplinary collection, a complex of meanings is approached from a variety of specific, often personal angles.
Framed by two longer essays which theorise how the psychology of home may change under sudden pressure and how social relations are embodied in windows, doors, walls and stairs, the book includes 18 further essays. Part I, ‘Informal settlements’, shows how a slum, urban development or nomadic life may create a self-sustaining identity; in Part II, ‘Huts and bridges’, impermanence shapes the state of dwelling, while Part III, ‘Liminal bodies’, presents bodies suspended at thresholds of change. Movement in time and space characterises the last three sections: Part IV, ‘Moving home’, depicts transitions and arrivals, Part V, ‘Dwelling in Memory’, focuses on recollections of past places and Part VI, ‘Are we there yet?’, points the way to a future in which the consulting-room changes to 2D, a family is exiled onto the small screen or we imagine breaking away altogether into outer space.
Examines the complex meaning of dwelling from a variety of theoretical angles Examines how the Covid-19 pandemic upended our sense of what home is Contains contributions from scholars across anthropology, literature, cultural studies, migration studies, and more

Autor*in

Orsolya Katalin Petőcz

Themen in »Dwelling«

Home Moving Exile Temporary Homes Places of Memory Migration Studies Liminal Spaces Post-Pandemic Homes Digital Dwelling

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“If you think globalization has done away with dwelling and sense of place, this diverse volume is a must-read. Ranging from traditional coastal life on the Arab Peninsula to space tourism, from screen presence to borderland existence, from the refugee camp to the family house, a string of articles reminds us that dwelling in new forms continues to remap globalized experiences. Across the globe and combining numerous disciplines, the anthology not only offers food for thought but inspires ideas for future explorations.” (Svend Erik Larsen, Professor Emeritus, School of Culture and Communication/Comparative Literature, Aarhus University)

“This book is itself a dwelling of sorts: both a welcoming intellectual abode and a vast range of themes to muse on. Playing with scale, and challenging geo-cultural spaces, it unfolds an array of meanings both temporal, related to history, memory and tradition, and spatial, related to place, nation and home. Dwelling allows us to think about cultural change and continuity, while keeping the flavour of individual experiences and emotions, the nostalgia of the ‘no-longer’ and the excitement of the ‘not-yet’.” (Daniela Koleva, Professor at the Department of History and Theory of Culture, Sofia University, author of “Memory Archipelago of the Communist Past” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022))

“This beautiful ensemble of diverse voices, made of international scholars across a variety of disciplines, gives a multifaceted perspective on dwelling, from the literal to the metaphorical. A must-read for anyone interested in migration and refugee studies, hospitality, or the politics (and poetics) of space and architecture.” (Professor André Benhaïm, Professor of French, Princeton University, author of “Après Ulysse: vers une poétique de l’hospitalité en Méditerranée” (Hermann, 2021))

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