Home as Cultural Imaginary at the End of Life

Abstract

In this chapter we argue for home as a cultural imaginary that is both specific and non-representational, material as well as ideal. We explore the cultural imaginary of home through two different sets of stories: mini autoethnographies of our own, describing what has counted as home in the lives of a parent and a grandparent growing old, and shorter stories of an earlier home told by nursing home residents. We read both of these sets of stories as performative acts of home making that work by invoking the resource of the cultural imaginary of home. Understanding the importance of these stories, we look at them from the perspective of narrative care, which underlines the need for honouring people’s stories and understanding the importance that stories play in providing meaning to people’s lives. The sense of self is fabricated by its ongoing narrations, among which narratives of home have a privileged place.