Abstract
In perceiving the family house as an active participant in the construction of memories, this chapter explores the meaning of the family house as a memory site in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. Based on data from ethnographic fieldwork in Bosnia, Denmark and Sweden, the chapter argues that the family house can be perceived as a memory site revealing different layers of ambivalence: the ambivalence of ‘return’; the ambivalence of the simultaneous presence of violent and joyful memories; the ambivalence between musealization as part of the memory work and necessary renovation; the ambivalence of remembering within generations; and the ambivalent feelings of ‘home’, making ‘home’ itself a mobile concept where people use different mnemonic practices in order to manage their memories and (re)make ‘homes’ in changed political situations.
Keywords
- Apple Tree
- Mobile Object
- Family House
- Walnut Tree
- Concrete Basis
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Üllen, S. (2016). Ambivalent Sites of Memories: The Meaning of Family Homes for Transnational Families. In: Palmberger, M., Tošić, J. (eds) Memories on the Move. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57549-4_4
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