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| The notion of home in displacement. A discussion of the Gibraltarian evacuation to Madeira during the 1940s |
| Set in 1940 during the evacuation of Gibraltar to Madeira, this essay examines how displaced Gibraltarians carried and reshaped their sense of home through cultural identity, objects, and rituals. It explores the shift from the tangible aspects of home to the intangible process of homemaking, revealing how migration redefines belonging. |
| The essay explores the multifaceted relationship between migration and the notion of home. It shifts the focus away from the tangible aspects of home and towards the intangible homemaking process. Set in 1940, during Gibraltar’s evacuation to Madeira, it analyses how the Llanitos carried forward their sense of home to the Portuguese island through cultural identity, objects, and rituals that form part of the homemaking. The essay argues that the precarious situation of the Gibraltarians has altered their sense of home. Home is constantly changing by those who inhabit it, and the process of homemaking is extensively analysed. The writing explores how new cultural hybridity develops the collective Gibraltarian identity. It is structured following the Hegelian Dialectic to present protracted migration that critically engages the different dimensions of the home, from the physical to the metaphysical, and how each dimension has been produced through homemaking. The essay aims to develop a framework and analyse how the sense of home is produced considering the recent developments of Brexit negotiations in Gibraltar. Beyond Gibraltar, the notion of home and migration has historically been a global issue that persists to this day, and the goal is to expand the research on protracted migrants to reflect on a better architectural future. |
| 1. The first evacuation from Gibraltar to Casablanca – May 1940 Gibraltar National Archives. Evacuation to French Morocco. 1940. Https://Www.nationalarchives.gi/EvacExhibitionImages.aspx. 2. Gibraltarian patio - Mar 1940 Chipulina, Neville . A Gibraltar Patio as Imagined by Local Artist Gil Podesta. 2019. Drawing. Https://Gibraltar-Intro.blogspot.com/2019/04/2019-Los-Patios-De-Gibraltar-i-Was-Born.html. 3. WWII bomb damage in Gibraltar by the Vichy French Air Force – Jul 1940 Gibraltar National Museum. Destruction of “Lamorna” after an Air Raid. 1940. 2020. Https://Www.facebook.com/Photo.php?Fbid=3588709487822705&Id=278919708801716&Set=A.342880272405659&Locale=Zh_CN. 4. The second evacuation Scheme to Madeira – Aug 1940 Authors Own. Photo taken from the Gibraltar Archives. 2024. Photo. 5. State visit to the British School for Gibraltarian Children in Madeira – Nov 1941 Authors Own. Photo taken from the Gibraltar Archives. 2024. Photo. |