Aesthetic Anxieties in the Migrant House: The Case of the Lebanese in Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Migrants’ houses not only offer shelter and a setting for everyday life, but a platform from which to maintain a migrant identity. Migrants’ efforts to express their culture can be reflected in the appearance of their houses, where aesthetic differences spark “aesthetic anxieties” towards an ethnic-looking artefact from non-migrant neighbours. In this paper, we extend the category of “aesthetic anxieties” to include the migrants’ own experiences within their Australian houses, rather than the reactions of mainstream society. The settings provoking such anxieties are often not visible from the street but are experienced by migrants within the house in response to a lack of housing diversity to accommodate their cultural needs. This study aims to provide insights into the experience of Lebanese migrants in Australian houses, and to reflect their responses to the spatial organisation of their houses, considering changing factors such as household occupants’ age, marital status, and household dynamics over time. We use in-depth interview data from three Lebanese families to reflect on their behaviour within, and emotional and physical relationship to, their houses. We find the spatial organisation of mainstream Australian housing may clash with residents’ cultural values affecting whether they are able to comfortably occupy their houses, or not.