Migration and Domesticity in the Long Nineteenth Century

The theme of domesticity and displacement has become a central topic of architectural scholarship. This is manifest in EAHN’s 2019 themed conference on the subject as well as a growing number of publications that appear in academic and professional journals. Most of these studies address contemporary phenomena and events of recent history, with some scholars extending the discussion into the displacements of the twentieth century and the architectures that accompanied them. Earlier histories of domestic spaces in migration contexts are, however, still largely conspicuous by their absence.

The subject of home on the move, of home-making in the wake of displacement, of taking flight, coping and making do is without doubt sharply relevant in today’s world. Its actuality is precipitated partly by the discussions of the “refugee crisis” or “migration problem” – phenomena that, in the journalistic and political rhetoric, are often presented as novel challenges of the modern world. While this exposition is misleading (migration is as old as humankind), some aspects of population movement in its current form are clearly modern: the nation state with sharply imposed and policed boundaries, national belonging as a cornerstone of individual identity, and the idea of domesticity in the sense of inalienable rootedness. These notions, which now frame our understanding of “home” and “foreign,” were moulded to a great extent during the long nineteenth century.

This panel invites contributions on the subject of domestic space within nineteenth-century migration contexts broadly conceived. Possible subjects might include home-making in the context of forced and voluntary relocation of Europeans to the colonies, domestic spaces of displaced colonial populations, re-settlement of refugees from European wars, and co-opting of domestic space into national projects. We will be looking to examine the ways in which ideas of home and belonging were shaped in the context of the increasingly global world of the nineteenth century with a view to expose some of the assumptions that began to be made about the notion of home and the idea of migration during this period. With hope, historicising the origins of these assumptions might help us begin to investigate how the age-old phenomenon of migration became a problem in our times.

Session will consist of either five papers or four papers and a respondent, with time for dialogue and questions at the end. Each paper will be limited to a 20-minute presentation.
Proposals to be sent directly to session chair at elena.chestnova@usi.ch

All proposals should include the following information:

A proposal, in English, of no more than 300 words
The title of the paper, or discussion position
Your name
Your professional affiliation
A short curriculum vitae (maximum of two pages)
A mailing address, email address and telephone number
Please note: papers may not have been previously published, nor presented in public. Only one submission per author will be accepted.

Session chair will notify all persons submitting abstracts of the acceptance or rejection of their proposals and comment on them by 14 October 2019. Complete, final versions of all papers will need to be sent to the conference organisers by 30 April 2020.

Best wishes,

Dr. Elena Chestnova
Institute for History and Theory of Art and Architecture
Academy of Architecture Mendrisio
Università della Svizzera italiana