Psychological, Political, and Cultural Meanings of Home

Discover different dimensions of the meaning of home across political, cultural, and geographic boundaries!

Psychological, Political, and Cultural Meanings of Home brings a unique multidisciplinary, multicultural approach to address the interconnection of diverse experiences with the meaning of home. Filled with useful insights from respected authorities, this book shows you that the meaning of home can be incredibly varied, especially when viewed in the context of community psychology and social work. Explore the multiple facets of the meaning of “home,” and discover how our personal, professional, cultural, and political background contributes to how we envision or experience home.

From physical dwellings such as a convent or a prison, through political frameworks that confirm or challenge the status quo, on through the related meanings of home that cross cultural and geographical boundaries, Psychological, Political, and Cultural Meanings of Home presents an added dimension of what home truly can be. You will learn that home is a volatile mix of yearning and loss, of being at home or searching for it, and that this very mix is the framework that reflects each differing belief.

With Psychological, Political, and Cultural Meanings of Home you’ll explore:

• the changing meanings of home for Taiwanese employers of foreign domestics under globalization

• the opportunities and critical success factors for work and career in the home

• the complexities and restrictions of convent life as home

• how women detainees in a large urban county jail form altered definitions of “home”

• how novelists can give a powerful voice to the homeless by creating an inner image that contains all essential elements of home

• the cultural constructions surrounding the ambiguous lyrics of “Sweet Home Chicago”

• the role of childhood immigration in the construction of self-identity

• the relationship between country of origin and the ability to create a sense of home in other countries and cultures

• the recreation of home in diverse places by the nomad, who carries home as an essential psychological belonging within

Psychological, Political, and Cultural Meanings of Home is a fascinating, eye-opening book for those in community studies, psychology, sociology, culture studies, literature, and women’s studies.