Exploring family norms and the construction of young people's identities through multi-sensory research

This paper draws on current research which focuses on sensory experience in how young people maintain and (re)create identities and a sense of belonging (or not) in ‘home-like’ environments, when not living with their biological parents. This research builds on previous work on young people’s family life in the context of parental substance misuse (PSM) that pointed to the ways in which sensory experience, particularly in deprived circumstances, contributes to a sense of ambivalence or not belonging in the home. Notably, respondents’ accounts of PSM often explicitly or implicitly contrasted what they saw, heard, smelt and felt at particular times with their understandings of a proper ‘home’ and family environment. Their experience and associated sense of self were contrasted with what might be termed a normative sensory-scape drawn from cultural notions of the ‘home’ as a secure, private retreat (Mallett 2004), notions which are strongly associated with normative ideologies of family practices and rituals. These contrasts were difficult to negotiate, affecting young people’s self-identification at a time when fewer other sources of identification may be available. However, the importance of sensory experience in young people’s accounts of PSM was missed in an initial data analysis informed by funders’ concerns. Learning from this experience, from secondary analysis of  Qualidata archives, and from work suggesting the importance of sensory experience to creating and sustaining ontological security and self-identity (DeNora 2000; Mason and Davies 2010), the current research, employs visual and audial methods to place the sensory construction of domestic spaces, and of relationships in those spaces, centre stage. Drawing on an analysis of the sensory data produced (including photographs and audioscapes) this paper discusses participants’ strategies to (re)create environments in which they can feel ‘at home’ across multiple spaces, and the fragility of the resources available to them to do so.