Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the interplay between a feeling of imprisonment and a sense of home among asylum seekers in Zagreb. A special emphasis is on the materiality of everyday life at the reception center and how objects and sensory experiences contribute to creating a sense of place.

Paper long abstract:

With Reception Center for Asylum Seekers in Zagreb (Croatia) "Porin" as a starting point, this paper analyzes Porin's tenants' efforts to create a meaningful place and a sense of continuity and home from what was "just an empty room" upon their arrival. The special emphasis is on the materiality of everyday life in Porin - on objects people use to decorate their rooms and arrange them according to their needs, as well as on exploring the impact of this materiality in the place-making processes. Based on the lived experiences of asylum seekers and their practices, this research aims to highlight complex, blurred, and versatile interconnections and relations between a feeling of imprisonment and confinement on the one hand and a sense of home and belonging on the other. Furthermore, moving on from Porin to its immediate surroundings and the Dugave neighborhood in which it is located, the paper explores the importance of the environment and sensory experiences in creating meaningful atmospheres and senses of place. Taking into account that Porin is located at the periphery of the city, near a railway yard and a landfill, and that the building complex itself is surrounded by the newly built fence, the author looks into the roles that specific sounds, scents, and vistas play in everyday life of Porin's inhabitants as well as in meanings that they inscribe into the reception center. In so doing, the paper deals with the interaction between physical materials and affective atmospheres.