Gender?Home!

Abstract

‘Gender? Home !’ originates in the perpetual state of transcendental homelessness that women of the diaspora experience. This thesis aims to re-centre the periphery by creating a gender equitable dwelling. Throughout this research the periphery is understood as the cultural, social and economic in-between that people with a migration background find themselves in. It defines a metaphysical state of being between the socio-cultural forms of the country of origin of an individual and those of the country they reside in, with that individual existing simultaneously in both and neither. The periphery is about temporal and spatial elsewheres, a sense of longing for something that does not exist, an idealised concept of home. A major factor for gender inequity in the dwelling is the harsh separations of the processes of production (productive labour) and social reproduction (affective labour) that happens under capitalist systems. Production in the framework of capitalism is understood as a remunerated form of labour that has as a purpose a ‘product’. Historically it is associated with factory processes. While social reproduction in this thesis is understood as the sum total of care, affective labour, or subjectivation. Social reproduction covers all the activities that pertain to community making, care for the youth and elderly and social organisational activities. By exploring the opportunities offered by cooperative models when it comes to ensuring ownership and providing a flexible environment for methods of habitation that do not revolve around the nucleic family, I propose a programmatic ecology, a socio-economic and administrative system and lastly a spatial configuration that create equitable living for women of the periphery.