Neither sensibly homed nor homeless: re-imagining migrant homes through more-than-human relations

Abstract

More-than-human relations have gained much attention in the study of home and homemaking in Western contexts. We contribute to and geographically expand this growing literature by focusing on informal homes established by climate migrants living in the urban fringes of Khulna city, Bangladesh. To explore these precarious dwellings we develop a more-than-human approach, focusing upon the agencies and relations of plants, animals and elements of nature in securing homes. We focus on the more-than-human imaginaries that bring together human and non-human bodies and contribute to the conditions and capacities of homemaking. We have identified three dominant imaginaries (aesthetic, spiritual and economic) through which homes are produced and maintained. These imaginaries inform the material dimensions of migrant home-ecologies in unconventional but important ways, influencing the production of internal and external spaces. We conclude that reimagining non-humans as co-constituting home provides unique insights into the diverse strategies and experiences of marginalized communities and their socio-ecological complexities in urban space. Thinking through cities and their uneven metabolic processes in this way can generate innovative approaches for engaging with marginalized people in the urban fringe.