Dwelling in The Temporary

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article responds to the call from forced migration studies for increased engagement with the mobilities paradigm, as well as to criticism of the mobilities paradigm for not engaging sufficiently with immobility and power relations. The article analyses the experiences and strategies of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in rented dwellings in Tbilisi, in the South Caucasus state of Georgia, who are among the most mobile groups of IDPs in that country. To understand the relationship between mobility and immobility, the article applies Heidegger's notion of ‘dwelling’ and more recent developments of that notion, together with the discussion between Honneth and Fraser on ‘recognition’. First, the article introduces internal displacement in Georgia. Second, it discusses the housing situation for the IDPs. Third, the theoretical concepts of ‘dwelling’ and ‘recognition’ are developed to enable analysis of experiences and practices of mobility and immobility. Fourth, the various trajectories through which IDPs have come into their rented dwellings are discussed, and processes of deterritorialization and reterritorialization and the experience of recognition through the dwelling are analysed. The conclusion addresses the role of dwelling and recognition for efforts to understand the relationship between mobility and immobility.