BSA Study Day: Intimacies, Families and Practices of Consumption

When all of the above is difficult: practices of belonging in difficult

circumstances

Dr. Sarah Wilson and Dr. EJ Milne

School of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling

Young People Creating Belonging: spaces, sounds and sights ► exploring (non) belonging and its links with material objects,

place and sensory experience with young people in or leaving foster, kinship or residential care, drawing on previous work on: everyday domestic practices, the significance of objects

and personal life (Morgan 1996; Smart 2007; Mason and Davies 2010; Miller 2010)

home and its idealised associations with intimacy, privacy (Mallett 2004) and sensory respite (Adams et al. 2007)

belonging: as ‘emotional..ontological attachment..feeling at home … include[ing] a notion of project or sense of hope for the future’ (Yuval-Davis 2011: 10)

sensory experience and participative visual and audial methods (Bull 2007; Rose 2007; Pink 2009; ‘aesthetic dimension of autonomy’ DeNora 2000)

Participatory methods employed (1)► Activity/ Interview 1:Take photographs of:► Your 2 favourite places (any space inside or outside,

from different angles)► Your 2 least favourite places (any space inside or

outside, from different angles)► The door/ entrance to your favourite and least

favourite spaces.► 1 room which is used by you and by others where

you live► 3 objects or ‘things’ that are most important to youMake 1-3 minute sound recordings of:► 3 sounds that are positive or make you feel good

inside. Include at least one music track that makes you feel good or that you play the most

► 2 other sounds which are important to you or which you want to tell us about

Participatory methods used (2)Activity/ Interview 2:► My dream home or room► Tell us what your dream home would look like. If you want you

can make something in advance or, if you prefer you can do it with us.

► Music with a message► 2 pieces of music with words which are important to you or

with lyrics that you would like someone else to hear.

► The Place I Live► Make a map of the place you live or spend most of your time.

Add stickers showing where you like, don’t like and the spaces you use and don’t use

Activity 3: Film making, song writing or art workshop days around

experiences of being in, transitioning through and leaving care.

Where is ‘home’?: networks of indoor and outdoor places Pseudonym: Channel (‘Chanelle’) Reggie Age and sex: 17, female 23, male Location: W. Central (town) W. Central

(city) Occupation: College (FE) Unemployed Official residence: foster care (town A) own flat Favourite places:► 1st interview auntie’s house, beach (town D) sofa,

mother’s friend’s flat (town B) friend’s bedroom

► foster carers’ caravan park, art gallery college

► bus► ► 2nd intw additions: boyfriend’s bedroom► local park►

Belonging: shared biography, memoriesSW: Does this picture mean anything to you?CH: Aye, it was my grandad’s. That’s why I like it…that’s why I got it in [in the photo]. SW: Ah…. So was it your grandfather’s house?CH: AyeSW: …So before it was your [auntie’s] house did you go there a lot?CH: A-ha..It’s never been changed That’s why I like it so much. SW: So this house has always been the same

throughout your life…

Belonging: biography and (re) creativity (Channel at her friend Alannah’s place)

SW: Did you choose the wallpaper here?

CH: Yes SW: ...because it looks a

bit like the one in your (grandad’s house)

CH: Aye SW: But it’s in Alannah’s

house? (Aye) So she let you choose the wallpaper?

CH: A-ha. SW: Did you choose the

carpet as well? CH: Me and Alannah SW: A-ha. So her house is kind of like a …project? CH: Aye (laughs)

Belonging: Reggie’s difficulties feeling at home in his flat

I don’t really like my flat at all, I kinda hate the place to be honest, … I hate the quiet which is weird cause quiet’s one of my favourite things [..], but only in moderation and only when I choose it.

‘ I think it’s the isolation, ..being by myself but I hate

the place. I hate it. ..I didn’t decorate it but I know it won’t help [laughs].. I just don’t feel good there.. I took a wee freak out..sort of fit thing and chucked my bed out, so I've only got a mattress now [laugh]!.. I just hated everything in the house’.

(The importance of) different types of consumption or value

Valued (but not associated) and less valued consumption

That computer’s just everything good to me… my games, … sad to say but.. my whole life’s on it. (Reggie, 23)

‘you don’t need to think of anything that’s worrying you, just get on Xbox and it’ll calm you down… I play people from China, people from America’ (Penfold, 14)

‘I was always thick … I couldn’t read for anything until I was nine, and.. I got given this book by .. my therapist.. and I was like .. ,‘wow I want more’, so I ended up getting addicted.. I felt like I was so there ..part of the family and I knew it all..they have to move away cause the dad’s abusive and that happened to us’. (Mackenzie, 14)

Final thoughts ► Sensory methods can illuminate different norms of ‘home’

spaces/ practices of belonging► Practices of belonging related to:

conventional single home spaces ‘other’ busier, noisier places (eg residential units) networks of multiple spaces (physical, less tangible (eg internet spaces),

interior and exterior, static and moving) ► Practices of/ building belonging developed most easily and in

places linked to important people and memories, ‘shared biography’

► Practices of belonging were difficult where material and relational resources were fragile

► The young people’s practices of consumption reflected their material resources, biographies, need for affect

► Their practices of consumption were affected by stereotypes of looked after children and public anxieties around devalued consumption.

References ► Adams, M., et al., 2007. The 24-hour city: Residents’ sensorial experience.

Senses and society (Special issue: The senses and the city), 2(2), 201-17.► Bull, M., 2007. Sound moves: iPod culture and urban experience. London:

Routledge/Taylor Francis.► DeNora, T., 2000. Music in Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.► Mallett, S., 2004. Understanding home: A critical review of the literature. The

sociological review, 52(1), 62-89.► Mason, J. and Davies, K., 2010. Coming to our senses? A critical approach to

sensory methodology. Qualitative research, 9(5), 587-603. ► Miller, D., 2008. The comfort of things. Cambridge: Polity.► Rose, G., 2007. Visual methodologies. 2nd ed. London: Sage.► Wilson, S., Houmøller, K., Bernays, S. (2012b) ‘It just feels nice to go home to

a nice home, and not, some house’: Taking account of the sensory construction of difficult family relationships in domestic spaces, Children’s Geographies, 12, 1, 101-113.

► Yuval-Davis, N., 2011, The politics of belonging: intersectional contestations London: Sage