Tag: domestic technologies

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De-/Re-Constructing home – Maren Hartmann, University of Arts, Berlin

Friday 29 March, 2019, 3.00pm – 4.30pm

MECO Seminar Room, S226, John Woolley Building A20, University of Sydney

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De-/Re-Constructing home: Notions of home and homelessness in times of mobile media

One of the always-taken-for-granted, but yet again constantly shifting concepts within media and cultural studies is the home. Maren Hartmann’s talk aims to unpack and map different understandings of the notion of home – both in media studies and beyond, but also in terms of both ontological and epistemological aspects. Four main – and rather diverse – foci shall serve to aid this mapping process: a) a (brief) feminist take on the household and home; b) a definition of home in the context of homelessness; c) the (media studies) concept of domestication and d) the home button. Next to often taking the notion and existence of home for granted, we often rely on “being-at-home” for our well-being and our identity-formation. In times, however, where insecurities seem once again on the rise, we need to take a new look at the interconnection between home and being-at-home. Drawing on work on homelessness, this talk proposes the concept of homing – making oneself at home in diverse ways. It also addresses the question what role media can play therein.

Maren Hartmann is professor of communication and media sociology at the University of Arts (UdK) in Berlin, Germany. She has worked at universities in the UK, Belgium and Germany and been a visiting scholar in Denmark and Sweden. In 2019, she is a Visiting Scholar in the SLAM Department of Media and Communications. Her work has four main foci: media and time; appropriation, esp. domestication; media and mobilities; home & homelessness. She has published widely in these fields. Maren is also involved in international organizations (Academiae Europeana, the German DGPuK and ECREA) and a regular guest at international conferences. 

Discussant:

Justine Humphry is a Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. Her previous appointments include Lecturer in Cultural and Social Analysis at Western Sydney University and Research Fellow in Digital Media at the University of Sydney.