Researching identities through material possessions: The case of diasporic objects

Abstract

The article aims to contribute to the growing literature on exploring relationships between objects, homes and identities in the context of migration. Using examples from a qualitative study of homemaking practices of Russian-speaking communities in the UK, the article discusses how the presence and use of certain objects and foods reflect complex meanings about home and belonging. Specifically, the article deploys the idea of ‘diasporic’ objects that signify the ambivalent nature of migrants’ relationships with their past and present homes simultaneously acting as symbols of connection and detachment. As the objects ‘travel’ through different homes so too do their meanings, and, through this, ‘diasporic’ objects accumulate new values and biographies embedded in wider cultural and transnational contexts. Analytically, the concept of diasporic objects is offered as a way to approach the feeling of home as a changing category that is (re)produced through memories and senses, as well as through particular ways of appropriation and personalisation of spaces and places.