being "at home in the world"

The sense of "feeling at home" is one that people generally associate with a location, such as the town they were born in, the town they grew up in, or the town they currently reside in, and a structure which represents the idea of a house. These are both concepts that I can identify with personally, and I bet so can many of you who are reading this right now at home, in a comfortable room, with walls and other structures to ensure your privacy.

For my ANTH 351: Indigenous Practices and Relations class I am reading a book called "At Home in the World" by Michael Jackson, an ethnographer who is originally from Australia, and decides to do some fieldwork about the local Aboriginals. His ethnography is told in more of a narrative form giving the reader just as much background about himself as the Warlpiri, the Aboriginal group he is studying.

What really struck me about this book, and why I thought it important to share is because of the title of the book "At Home in the World". This concept is one that I think will be important as me and my fellow Beyond Borderians travel to foreign countries in May for three or four months. Throughout the ethnography Jackson uses epigraphs at the beginning of his chapters, which are about the idea of home. One particular one that I laughed about, particularly pertaining to my future abroad was the epigraph at the beginning of chapter seven by Samuel Beckett, "It is suicide to be abroad. But what is it t be at home... what is it to be at home?" (Jackson 1995:60). It really made me wonder what on earth I was doing, traveling away from my home for three months; away from my family, friends, comforts of suburban living, etc. And I think I found my answer in Jackson's book.

Jackson's experience with the Warlpiri is unlike anything he's ever experienced before and he learns many things about their culture and their beliefs while collecting date for his fieldwork. He learns about their ideas and concepts of Dreamings which are stories that are given to certain individuals when they are born which describe the land where they were born (Jackson 1995:35-37). The concept was completely foreign to me because the Warlpiri use their Dreamings as a way of memorizing their vast landscape, saying, "Oh, that village, that is on the wallaby Dreaming track" for example. The Warlpiri literally knew every inch of their land. Jackson uses the Warlpiri as an example of being at home in the world. Where ever a Warlpiri goes, s/he knows where s/he came from, they know the exact location of their conception, where their ancestors died (Jackson 1995: 53-55). Because the land is so sacred in every aspect to the Warlpiri, all of it is their home and all of it belongs to everyone. They have no understanding of boundaries, except to say where one Dreaming ends and the next one begins.

Here, in the Western world, we have a very different idea of boundaries and privacy and home. Home is a private affair, something that we hold dear to ourselves but have a hard time sharing with other people. Family is important to some of us, but the Warlpiri goes as far as to give everyone "skin names" which represents the skin group in with you belong. For example all the women's names start with N and all the men's names start with J. Jackson was giving the skin name Jupurrurla and all other Jupurrurlas were his "brothers" and all Napanangkas were his classificatory "wives" because Napanangka is always the wife of Jupurrurla. And Jupurrurlas father is alwas Jakamarra, he had to regard all other Jakamarras as "fathers"(Jackson 1995: 20-21). This idea of everyone being related and everyone belonging to the land is such an amazing concept, which brought me to the realization that it didn't matter where I was in the world, if my family wasn't there, or my friends, or my comforts of home, I could still call the place home, if the others around me accepted me that way and if I was willing to accept them that way.

Jackson immerses himself within the Warlpiri culture, doing exactly as they do and going right along with whatever is thrown at him. In a ways I think that the Warlpiri are impressed with Jackson's ability to improvise and make do with what he has. As I was reading this ethnography I realized that this was exactly what I had to do when I arrived in the Dominican Republic; leave my comforts at home, leave my idea of family (even though they will be dearly miss and I will not forget about them), but try to take on the culture as my own and become as comfortable with Cabrera, Dominican Republic as I am with Arthur, Ontario and Canada. 

Near the end of the ethnography Jackson lists some of the definitions of "home" that he came across while doing his research and fieldwork with the Warlpiri. I wanted to share some of them with you to see what you thought, if you dis/agree with them, or have your own idea of home, or how to become "at home in the world".

"All really inhabited space bears the essence of the notion of home" wrote Gaston Bachelard.

"Home is an intimate place" observes Yi-Fu Tuan.

Among the Kuranko, the quintessential human space is the house, which is metaphorically the body of a person. Its thatched roof is likened to hair, its door to a mouth, its wall surfaces to skin, and houses and humans are formed of the same earth. The house is a family and family is a home.

Robert Frost: "Home is the place where when you go there they have to take you in."

"The world is an exile", wrote Thomas a Kempis "home is with God."

What is to build "a nest in the heart of another" is captured by Hannah Jelkes, talking about her grandfather in Tennessee William's The Night of the Iguana: "We make a home for each other, my grandfather and I. Do you know what I mean by a home? I don't mean a regular home. I mean I don't mean what other people mean when they speak of a home, because I don't regard home as a... well, a place, a building...a house... of woods, bricks and stone. I think of a home as being a thing that two people have between them in which each can... well, nest - rest- live in, emotionally speaking..." [a personal favourite] (Jackson 1995:121-122).

 Jackson, M. (1995). At home in the world. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Cheers :)