Homework week one

 ·         “Here in this imaginary terrain painful memories are leached of their power. I feel comfortable and secure. I am at home. Sleep comes quickly.”

o   Mallet has an idealised perception of ‘home’ rather than ‘house’ that encompasses safety, peace and love, formed by memory.

o   His view extends beyond a house and is inclusive of neighbourhood and community.

·      ·    “The concept of homeland was appropriated by the ruling classes to promote a form of nationalism and patriotism aimed at protecting and preserving their land, wealth and power”

o   This positions home as claim to state and a physical declaration of commitment to a nation. The tone subtly eludes to class hierarchy and land as a symbol of wealth dangling from the lapel of those who are deemed true supporters/investors of the state.

·       ·   “home is a ‘socio-spatial system’ that represents the fusion of the physical unit or house and the social unit or household”…”the physical aspects of the home, including the location, design, and size of the home, ‘both enable and constrain’ different relationships and patterns of action’”

o   Here Mallet draws parallel to the contemporaneous use of space as private and public as divulgence to what was conceived as only private. For eg:

§  The casual and formal entertaining of friends, family and even as a chip for economic furtherance.

§  Use of space as a home office, as a result of the hybridity of social and familial standards found in contemporary life.

§  Even the un-intimate hosting of intimate relations (aka casual sex)which  has deescalated the privacy of the bedroom.

o   Thus he draws conclusion “Within households, gender and age are the ‘key dimensions’ that differentiate household members’ perception of the meaning of home. Geographical factors, especially residential location, together with issues such as class, ethnicity and housing tenure, explain some of the variations in the meaning of home that exists between households.”