Hometactics: Everyday Practices of Multiplicitous Selves

This text examines notions of home, place, and belonging in light of the experience of multiplicitous selves. The first section argues that the notion of home may be connected to a politics of location that reaffirms so-called authentic identities and serves to exalt those identities by negating those who are deemed as not belonging. The difficulties that arise when considering the meaning of belonging in light of the multiplicity of the self make it clear that we cannot adhere to a notion of belonging that privileges so-called authentic or primary characteristics of identity. The second section introduces the notion of hometactics, practices that allow for a sense of familiarity with and a particular sense of “belonging” to a place, space, group, or world while avoiding the restrictive, exclusive elements that a notion of belonging might carry with it. In this way, another part of the story of home, location, and belonging comes into view—what we may call micropractices of lived experience, the small yet important everyday practices of mulitiplicitous selves as they negotiate their multiple and complex identities and attempt to get a sense of connection to the worlds they travel.