Vital Signs 2: Paper Session 5b
Belonging, history and memory
Thursday 9 September, 9.30 - 11am
'Capturing everyday belongings' - Dr Vanessa May and Dr Stewart Muir (University of Manchester)
In this paper we examine ways of capturing people’s everyday belongings. In particular, we focus on the difficulties in researching an experience that is both intangible and multidimensional. A sense of belonging is central to how people construct a sense of self and how they relate to the world. Belonging is therefore a common concept that is seemingly easy to study. It is however often a ‘seen but unnoticed’ and intangible experience that people have trouble verbalising. Furthermore, a sense of belonging is multidimensional in that it can be constructed in relation to for example relational, cultural or sensory reference points. Consequently, ‘belonging’ can mean different things to different people, and the researcher might not stumble upon it easily. We examine these issues in relation to a mixed methods study on inter/generational dynamics that we are conducting with a sub-set of respondents from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. In particular, we address the creativity that is required on the part of the researcher who wishes to study belonging.