Possibilities of empowerment through homemaking

Abstract

The relationship between space and emotions encompasses a substantial layer of social life in which they are enacted. This article examines the mutually constitutive relationship between home and emotions from a feminist perspective, emphasizing the positive aspects of the foundational and dynamic relationship between home and emotions rather than the feminist viewpoint that portrays home as entirely negative for women. To endeavor this, I present the results of my qualitative research based on a series of in-depth interviews with two separate groups of 19 women who left their homes and set up new homes in Istanbul. The research focused on the findings on the role of emotions in forming relationships with home and the extended domestic material world. The results indicate that home can be discovered for women not only as a place of invisible labor, patriarchal oppression, and domestic violence, but also as a place of empowerment, confidence, and encouragement. © 2021 Cyprus International University. All rights reserved.