Interminably Displaced?: Home-making practises among Georgian IDPs in Collective Centres in the context of privatisation

Abstract

This master thesis explores different forms of home-making among internally displaced persons living in Collective Centres in Tbilisi, Georgia in the context of an ongoing privatisation programme. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union the Caucasus have been haunted by internal conflict and strife leading to the mass displacement of large populations. Georgia is faced with an internally displaced population that numbers between 257 000 to 277 000 as of 2009. Around half of this population is settled in Collective Centres consisting of old schools, student dorms, factories, hospitals and other buildings that were transformed into what was initially meant to be temporary dwellings, but have remained the more or less permanent housing since displacement.

This thesis explores how people make homes in the temporary dwellings in Collective Centres. Home is understood as a "spatial imaginary" where the physical structures of a dwelling are imbued with ideals, feelings and emotions that create home. Home is both a physical location and an affective space shaped by feelings and senses of belonging. Home needs to be actively created through home-making practices. In this thesis I will explore how home is both imagined and practiced.

The concepts of agency and structure will be employed as analytical tools to facilitate the understanding of these processes. The overall argument is that people in all segments of society are perceived to have an impact on their own lives. As much as we depend on the social systems in which we have to negotiate, we are also contributing to the establishment of this social system.

This thesis entails a discussion of how homes are made in the context of an ongoing privatisation programme that seeks to provide the internally displaced with durable housing solutions. The possible influences of this privatisation programme on home-making practices will also be discussed. IDPs have been kept on the side of society and not allowed to integrate in their areas of displacement. As return officially has remained the favoured durable solution the IDPs have become interminably displaced. This thesis discusses whether privatisation and the provision of durable housing solution can contribute to the search of durable solutions to internal displacement.