Tokens of (Un)Belonging: Domestic Objects and the Sense of Home among Women Transmigrants in Belgrade

Abstract

ABSTRACT It is usually emphasized that the relationship between migrants and the domestic objects from their home countries is essential for migrants’ maintenance of their various identities. It is presumed that migrants need familiar objects to feel at home in new surroundings. This study focuses on the domestic material culture of transnational well-educated middle-class European women living in Belgrade. The aim of the paper is to discover what role domestic objects from their home countries play in their homemaking practices and everyday lives in Serbia. Ethnographic research was conducted for the most part in 2018. Levitt and Glick Schiller’s theoretical framework on transnational ‘ways of belonging’ and ‘ways of being’ and Anthias’ concept of ‘translocational positionality’ were applied. Furthermore, Pérez Murcia and Boccagni’s framework on homemaking practices among migrants was discussed. Contrary to some similar studies of affluent migrants, the findings show that domestic objects from native countries evoke neither ethnic nor national sentiments. In some cases, they do not need them to feel ‘at home’ in new surroundings.