Feeling at Home
Transforming the Politics of Housing
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Verso Books
Publishing:21st Jan '25
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 21st January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This book explores the deep connections between housing and well-being, emphasizing the need for innovative solutions to the housing crisis. Feeling at Home challenges conventional views.
Housing transcends mere construction; it embodies our aspirations and is integral to our existence. In Feeling at Home, the author delves into the profound impact that a stable home has on our overall well-being. A secure residence is where we find rest, nourishment, and solace. It influences our health, longevity, and everyday happiness. Conversely, the absence of such stability can lead to various physical and mental health issues, often culminating in untimely demise. This understanding is crucial to our vision of a fulfilling and dignified life.
The book tackles both the practical and emotional dimensions of housing, addressing topics such as domestic labor, privacy, security, ownership, and health. Alva Gotby poses essential questions about the nature of success in relation to homeownership. Can we envision a prosperous life without owning a home? The author emphasizes that the resolution of the housing crisis extends beyond merely increasing housing supply; it requires a fundamental transformation in our daily lives and the roles we play within them.
In Feeling at Home, Gotby invites readers to rethink their perceptions of housing and its significance in shaping our lives. By recognizing the political implications of our feelings about housing, we can better understand the complexities of the crisis and work towards meaningful solutions that enhance our collective well-being.
This is an insightful and necessary book by one of the most promising feminist thinkers working today. The analysis is sharp, accessible, and timely. The short, punchy chapters never outstay their welcome, and there is a wonderful diversity of approach which is impressive in such a short book. Feeling at Home is a vital resource for anybody interested in the ways we organise our domestic lives. -- Helen Hester, author of Xenofeminism, co-author of After Work
Feeling At Home makes a compelling political case for something housing movements seem to forget: more homes, even very affordable ones, will not dismantle a fundamentally harmful and exploitative system. Gotby points toward a new horizon where housing can be a means of radically reshaping family, care, and society. -- Leslie Kern, author of Feminist City
In the best traditions of Marxism and feminism, Alva Gotby insists on asking far better questions. The result is this sophisticated, humane and exciting book.Feeling at Homeis a multi-point perspective that reveals everything that 'home' means, and - more importantly - ought to mean. It makes the radical seem obvious, and the impossible seem essential -- Nick Bano, author of Against Landlords
This is an insightful and necessary book by one of the most promising feminist thinkers working today. The analysis is sharp, accessible, and timely. The short, punchy chapters never outstay their welcome, and there is a wonderful diversity of approach which is impressive in such a short book. Feeling at Home is a vital resource for anybody interested in the ways we organise our domestic lives. -- Helen Hester, co-author of After Work
An important focus on the complex and multi-layered nature of home and the housing question, and why we still need to fight for it. -- Andrea Gibbons, author of City of Segregation
In her riveting new book, formidable scholar and organiser Alva Gotby tackles the personal and social calamities created by our continuing housing crisis. With elegant precision, Gotby shows how we can and must help restore the hope and vision necessary for the collective struggle for better homes for all, eliminating the widespread sense of powerlessness generated by housing precarity and instability. Feeling at Home is an essential resource for winning that struggle. -- The Care Collective, authors of The Care Manifesto
An important contribution to debates around social reproduction, care, the family and home. In this set of essays Alva Gotby sets new horizons for the housing justice movement, laying out terrain for discussion - and struggle. -- Isaac Rose, author of Rentier City
Alva Gotby's short, passionate, and incisive book forces us to see how the current housing crisis is exacerbated by idealized patriarchal and capitalist notions of domesticity that link private home ownership with personal success. Instead of simply calling on the state to provide more public housing, Gotby demands that we interrogate our very definition of the domestic. By breaking down the artificial boundaries that demarcate the public from the private, expanding our definition of the family, and reimagining the ways we mark successful adulthood, Gotby argues that we need bold new visions of architecture and urban planning as we endeavor to build more caring, connected, and contented societies. -- Kristen R. Ghodsee, author of Everyday Utopia
ISBN: 9781804296219
Dimensions: 210mm x 140mm x 16mm
Weight: 284g
192 pages