Every Object Tells a Story

ABSTRACT

The article considers objects and stories within the homes of Pakistani Heritage families who came from Pakistan to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. The research team particularly explored the relationship between objects and family stories and timescales. Part of the research process involved an ethnographic inquiry exploring the stories told by the families. An exhibition was constructed from these stories and a website. The experience of migration, of the resettling of people and objects produced new kinds of stories in relation to objects, as families moved across national and transnational spaces. I highlight how a nuanced understanding of timescales can help illuminate studies of home cultures of migrant families. Notions of place and space are disrupted when possessions are left behind, and language is all there is left to recreate lost objects in old spaces. Longer timescales can be attached to objects that appear valueless when actual objects are lost or in transit. By making the timescales a focus for discussion, actual stories and experiences of families making that transition can be more readily heard. Home cultures can be understood in this context as “traveling” and subject to transformation and disruption.