Performing Home in Mobility: Second Homes in Norway

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims at studying how the increase in the number of second homes in Norway can be interpreted as an expression of changes in cultural attitudes towards home. We have set out to study two conceptual pairings in more detail: home and mobility, and centre (urbanity) and periphery (rurality). The former pairing is significant because the concept of home now has a subordinated role in the interpretation of post-modern society, while mobility is regarded commonly as the dominating mechanism. With a peripatetic lifestyle, a ‘home’ may comprise various locations, related to both place and mobility. Based on interviews in two major second-home areas, we assert that mobility between homes represents a reorganization of spatiality that relates to how different practices are linked to different home locations, as well as forging stronger links between centre and periphery.