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Single people's geographies of home: intimacy and friendship beyond 'the family'

Single people's geographies of home: intimacy and friendship beyond 'the family'
Single people's geographies of home: intimacy and friendship beyond 'the family'
What might it mean to think of ‘the single’ as a potentially queer subject and in what ways does singleness pose a challenge to heteronormative conceptualizations of the lifecourse and household formation? In this paper I explore some of the contested meanings of ‘home’ for those who are single; and examine how single people have created new forms of home and new spaces of at-homeness with those with whom they are not biologically (or romantically) related. I conclude by asking how we might help foster, build, and create new forms of dwelling that might better match single people’s imaginings and desires for a home outside of heteronormative coupledom. Ultimately the paper argues that the exclusion of the figure of the single is one of the key omissions in the work of those interested in challenging the geographies of exclusion and inequality.
queer, single, home, coupledom, lifecourse
0308-518X
2452-2468
Wilkinson, Eleanor
b4e83f65-1c06-4c86-b70c-4cd307d2738a
Wilkinson, Eleanor
b4e83f65-1c06-4c86-b70c-4cd307d2738a

Wilkinson, Eleanor (2014) Single people's geographies of home: intimacy and friendship beyond 'the family'. Environment and Planning A, 46 (10), 2452-2468. (doi:10.1068/a130069p).

Record type: Article

Abstract

What might it mean to think of ‘the single’ as a potentially queer subject and in what ways does singleness pose a challenge to heteronormative conceptualizations of the lifecourse and household formation? In this paper I explore some of the contested meanings of ‘home’ for those who are single; and examine how single people have created new forms of home and new spaces of at-homeness with those with whom they are not biologically (or romantically) related. I conclude by asking how we might help foster, build, and create new forms of dwelling that might better match single people’s imaginings and desires for a home outside of heteronormative coupledom. Ultimately the paper argues that the exclusion of the figure of the single is one of the key omissions in the work of those interested in challenging the geographies of exclusion and inequality.

Text
Environ Plan A-2014-Wilkinson-2452-68.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 1 January 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 January 2014
Published date: 1 October 2014
Keywords: queer, single, home, coupledom, lifecourse
Organisations: Population, Health & Wellbeing (PHeW)

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 369905
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/369905
ISSN: 0308-518X
PURE UUID: 47c77430-fad0-4594-a303-aaedb3f4d4ef

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 14 Oct 2014 09:09
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 18:09

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