Homes and Homecomings: Gendered Histories of Domesticity and Return

Feminist historians have long analysed the constructions and meanings of home, whether as domestic space or the place of belonging and longing. This book brings together these dimensions, and in doing so, provides inspiring new historical perspectives on the politics of homes and homecomings.

Original research from a group of international scholars explores the gendered dynamics of both the home and movement away from home. This is explored within the realms of the literal and ideological construction of many homes - twentieth-century homes in capitalist and socialist societies, or the ‘corporate domesticity’ of shipboard homes. Contributions also examine the history of masculinity and domesticity in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the intersection of race, gender and class in policies of repatriation.

Using innovative methodological and theoretical approaches, Homes and Homecomings provides case studies from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, as well as discussing movements across the globe. The book contains original illustrations, and provides an important reference for historians and scholars across a broad range of disciplines.