Shifting ‘home’ : exploring young Singaporean adults’ negotiations of ‘place’ and self.

Abstract

The notion of ‘place’ and ‘space’ has traditionally been the concern of human geographers

and spatial theorists. However, in line with Gieryn’s (2000) call for “A Space for Place in

Sociology”, this paper attempts to address these issues using a sociological framework

instead, by exploring how young Singaporean adults who have lived abroad negotiate the idea

of ‘home’ as it is lived, experienced and interpreted. Using in-depth narrative interviews to

uncover their place-making practices, the following dimensions of ‘home’ will be discussed:

(i) the ‘where’ and ‘what’ of home as it is constituted physically and relationally, (ii) how it is

experienced through the embodied habitus and finally, (iii) how it features in self-narratives

of personal growth and choice.