Being at home: space for belonging in a London caff

Hall, Suzanne ORCID: 0000-0002-0660-648X (2009) Being at home: space for belonging in a London caff. Open House International, 34 (3). pp. 81-87. ISSN 0168-2601

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Abstract

This paper relates migration and home through the experiences of belonging negotiated by both newcomers and established residents in a South London caff. My account emerges out of an ethnographic exploration of Nick's Caff, a small meeting place off a multi-ethnic, inner city Street. Urban change and social diversity are exemplified in the Walworth Road: a place from which one can hear the chimes of Big Ben and catch glimpses of the London Eye, but which remains curiously detached from the image of a prestigious city; where remnants of white working-class culture juxtapose with a variety of cultures brought from across the globalising world; and where emergent cultures are forged across the difficulties and possibilities of cultural difference. Nick's Caff situates the day-to-day and face-to-face experiences of belonging within a shared space in the contemporary city. This paper explores how different individuals reconstitute conventional understandings of 'home' and 'family' through inhabiting their regular tables in the Caff. I expand on 'belonging' as a mode of social interaction through three key ideas: social space, practice and sociability. I analyse the social and spatial dimensions of everyday interactions in the Caff, and examine whether intermingling within the Caff produces alternative understandings of belonging, beyond the binaries of insider/outsider or local/foreigner.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.openhouse-int.com/index.php
Additional Information:	© 2009 www.openhouse-int.com
Divisions:	Sociology LSE Cities
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2012 10:31
Last Modified:	01 Oct 2024 03:36
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/41633

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