Children negotiating their place through space in multi-local, joint physical custody arrangement
(2019) Families in motion: ebbing and flowing through space and time — ISBN: [978-1-78769-416-3], 79-95, published
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- Abstract
- This chapter focuses on multilocal families and more specifically on the ways in which children of separated parents, living in equal shared physical custody arrangements, define and construct their 'home' in a context of circular mobility. It is based on two case studies drawn from an ongoing fieldwork conducted in Belgium with children aged 10 to 16 in the context of the ERC Starting Grant project “MobileKids”. Our main aim is to understanding how family relations structure children’s “life spaces” and “lived places” (di Meo, 2012). We explore in particular the meanings and feelings that family relations confer to the space of the ‘house’ in children’s experiences, including both the physicality of the place of residence, and the relations and emotions that children attach to it (Forsberg, Autonen-Vaaraniemi, Kauko, 2016: 435). We also highlight the various strategies that children develop to mediate/influence their family relations through “space”, including strategies of spatial appropriation and territorialization. We conclude by summarizing our main findings and considering future developments.
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Citations
Merla, L., & Nobels, B. (2019). Children negotiating their place through space in multi-local, joint physical custody arrangement. In Lesley Murray, Liz McDonnell, Tamsin Hinton-Smith, Nuno Ferreira, Katie Walsh (ed.), Families in motion: ebbing and flowing through space and time (pp. 79-95). Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-415-620191005