Sense(s) of Heimat

The German notion of 'Heimat' is highly subjective, ambiguous and historically charged. Senses of belonging and identity associated with Heimat render the concept vulnerable to appropriation and instrumentalization by different political forces. Thereby, a static and exclusive understanding of Heimat is often depicted. This book drafts a counternarrative to demystify the contested concept. On the one hand, Heimat is conceptualized as spatial through emotional-geographical approaches to human-place relations. And on the other hand, the concept is placed in a global context through the perspective of international migration. The author contributes to the understanding of Heimat as an emotional map of self-location. This subjective map is neither purely static nor dynamic - it is characterized by simultaneities of opposing processes.

Autorentext
Jessica Andel is currently enrolled in the Master's programme "Human Geography: Globalisation, Media and Culture". Since November 2019, she has been working as a student assistant on the Human Geography-team at the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University.

Klappentext

The German notion of Heimat is highly subjective, ambiguous and historically charged. Senses of belonging and identity associated with Heimat render the concept vulnerable to appropriation and instrumentalization by different political forces. Thereby, a static and exclusive understanding of Heimat is often depicted. This book drafts a counternarrative to demystify the contested concept. On the one hand, Heimat is conceptualized as spatial through emotional-geographical approaches to human-place relations. And on the other hand, the concept is placed in a global context through the perspective of international migration. The author contributes to the understanding of Heimat as an emotional map of self-location. This subjective map is neither purely static nor dynamic - it is characterized by simultaneities of opposing processes.

Inhalt
1 Challenging a static conception of Heimat.- 2 Heimat: theoretical framework(s).- 3 Methodological approach.- 4 Insights from migrant biographies on the concept of Heimat.- 5 Heimat: an emotional map of biographical references.- 6 Conclusions on Heimat in the context of international migration.