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

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnationalism
• homemaking
• affluent migrants
• domestic material culture
• Serbia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The authors define ‘material worlds’ as ‘materiality of migration and material effects of movement of people’ (Basu and Coleman 2008: 313).

2 The UK left the EU in 2020.

3 See Appadurai (1986), Hoskins (1998), Woodward (2001: 116, 133); Miller (2008: 1–2).

4 I use the terms ‘possessions’ and ‘belongings’ interchangeably.

5 In these examples, I understand cosmopolitanism as part of transnational practices and a socio-cultural condition; ‘citizen of the world’ worldview; and an attitudinal or dispositional orientation and cultural competence gained mainly through experience of international travel (Vertovec and Cohen 2002; Anthias 2008: 9).

6 Although at the time of our interviews, Maja and Anita had difficulties finding work in Serbia (it is hard even for Serbian citizens to get employment) neither of the women experienced social degradation or gender discrimination. This often happens to immigrants, especially female immigrants in wealthier countries, who are obliged to de-skill or so-called ‘professional dequalification’ in order to find a job, often on the ‘black market’ (Kofman and Raghuram 2009: 1, 4–5).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia [grant number 451-03-68/2022-14/ 200163] and Jean Monnet Module “Anthropology of the European Union” at the University of Belgrade.

Notes on contributors

Marija Brujić

Marija Brujić is a senior research associate and an associate professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, where she teaches Anthropology of Migration (PhD level) and Anthropology of Material Culture (BA level). In addition to studying migration, her research interests include visual and medical anthropology and the anthropology of the EU.