Becoming at home in residential care for older people: a material culture perspective

This article uses ethnographic data and theories of practice and relationality to argue that rather than the meaning of home being inherent in objects, or felt subjectively by residents, meaning is generated through ongoing, everyday interactions between the two. I show that residents became at home by acquiring new things –as well as displaying existing possessions – and also through interacting with mundane objects in everyday social and relational practices such as cleaning and hosting. I conclude that being at home in older people's residential homes need not be so different from being at home at other stages of the life course and in other settings. This challenges conceptualisations of older people's homes – and older age itself – as somehow unknowable and unfamiliar.
Source: Sociology of Health and Illness - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research