Int Seminar2 : Mapping the conversation about the notion of home

For this assignment, we did readings about refugee camps and listened to podcasts about that. All of these reading and podcasts are related with the idea of “home”.

So for this map I use color purple to represent the commons of the readings  and the red color for things are contradictory arguments.

It looks a little messy on the map because there are a lot of detail of each reading and listening.

First of all it all happens in different locations but the reason that how each place to make itself feel like home is not about the geographically being at home.

For example, Exhibition as Atmosphere, it use objects to create atmosphere, since people felt the atmosphere in a different interpretations it brings people to the places that they felt( or imaging) and this also applies to the podcast Song Line. Without being at home, they use sing songs to bring up memories, and imagine they are in the place where they sing.  On the other hand, The Perfect Refugee Camp, Turkish government were trying their best to make a best place for refugees to feel like home but it still can’t reach the goal for the refugees who living in there because being in the camp is temporary( which is opposite to a home)  and, being lost not only their homeland also their freedom, these reasons cause that they can not feel like home in the camp.

Home suppose to be a place that give you comfort and you would be able to do anything in there with anyone’s judges. But City of Thorns, A Budget Hotel and In Protest, The Power of Place. They all lack of confort as to feeling like home. City of Thorns described how bad it is in the refugee camps. The are lack of food, the health care were bad. the Budget Hotel is surrounding by drug dealer and prostitutes, which is not safe and the uneasiness might affect to people who live in there all the time. Last the In protest, the power of place, even though they have free food and medical center to take care of them but they only sleep in the sleeping bed, I believe this is not comfortable and feels like home for them.

And when I think about the formal side of the reading of The Budget Hotel and The Perfect Refugee camp, these two reading shows the difference of monetary value and sentimental value. The examples is the TV in the refugee camp and the pillow in the hotel. How the TV, which is more valuable but not make refugees feel like being home. Because TV has no relationship with them before they came to the camp. Also the monetary value never is the main element for creating atmosphere of being home. However, even the pillow has no monetary value but it is the object that connect with home for the kids. The pillow bring him the idea of comfort and cozy at home. Which we can see the nation of home is about the sentimental value of an object.

Furthermore, the talk about the Song Line and Terra (In)Cognita, they are a little different compare to the reading that I mentioned before. They both focus more on the aboriginal cultural stories. Song Line introduce reader that using physical way like sing and dance to recall memories for people to bing them to home, and Terra (In)Cognita is more focus on the aboriginal in Canada, they lost their land(home) and how was their reaction and by losing land they felt like losing one part of themselves. However, both of them are still using singing, playing instruments to bring back memories of home.

To conclude, all these reading and podcasts are surround by the question of what makes these people feel like home and what does not? To look at the conceptual and formal perspective we see there are many complimentary arguments and contradictory arguments of each of them. This mind map exercise help us to organzine the little details and also force us to think the deeper of each ideas that might create of feeling of being at home.

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