Experiences of ‘sensory space-time compression’ in migrant homemaking

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research examining migrant homemaking is multi-disciplinary and well-developed, providing evidence that ‘home’ exists in multiple places. However, only a small component of this work examines the role of the senses. This paper draws on research conducted between 2015 and 2019 in Glasgow, a city in Scotland, UK, with migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women that used photo elicitation interviews, to bridge the gap between scholarship on migrant homemaking and the senses. The paper empirically demonstrates how the senses allow migrants to cultivate the embodied experience of physically being elsewhere by drawing on sensory memories, practices, and material cultures, specifically engaging taste and smell. The paper analyses the experience of four participants who described this sensation, and addresses the impact of the security of migrant status and financial resources in sensory homemaking. The concluding discussion proposes the concept of ‘sensory space-time compression’ as a novel way of understanding the sensory experiences of home in the context of migration.