Homemaking in the Russian-Speaking Diaspora - (Russian Language and Society) by Maria Yelenevskaya & Ekaterina Protassova (Paperback)

About the Book

Examines the material culture of Russian-speaking migrants

Book Synopsis

Bringing together scholars specialising in Russian studies, linguistic and cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics and ethnolinguistics, this collection examines the discursive practices in which migrants' homes are framed, negotiated and constructed to reveal the complexity and ambivalence of home as a concept and as a phenomenon of social life.
By examining migrants' stories about moving home, the book explores the stages of linguistic and cultural adaptation. It demonstrates that immigrants' homes are semiotic storehouses revealing their owners' past and present as well as aspirations for the future. It presents the first multifaceted investigation of the interdependence of materiality and emotions and materiality and language use by Russian-speaking immigrants.

Review Quotes

All the chapters show how the material objects we often take for granted become part of us and keep us alive. Everyone will find reading this book intellectually and spiritually rewarding and will see their surrounding objects - and themselves - in a new light.--Igor Klyukanov, Eastern Washington University