Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to discuss a contemporary cultural phenomenon in Sweden, characterized by people buying, renovating, and moving to deserted houses, while sharing their processes on social media. What is at stake when people act out notions of what is important to save and preserve for the future?

Paper long abstract:

The Facebook group "Jag räddade ett ödehus" (I saved a deserted house) was started in 2016. Today, it brings together a large number of people who dream about, own, renovate, and live in deserted houses.

Expressing identity through the home and being someone who "renovates" are and have long been important in Swedish society, while buying one's own home has become increasingly expensive. The increased interest can be seen as a way of continuing renovation and home-making practices when economic conditions have changed, but can also be related to a critique of urban life and untenable consumption, which may make a deserted house seem like an opportunity to realize one's housing dreams in a more sustainable and safer way, with reused and traditional materials and having one's own water supply. There is also interest in deserted houses from villages and municipalities that want their deserted houses to be inhabited to attract people to the area.

Based on the analysis of posts using the hashtag #jagräddadeettödehus, this paper focuses on the aspect of sharing experiences of, and creating meaning around saving a deserted house on social media. Appyling a logics approach (Glynos & Howarth 2007), which distinguishes between three logics, or three ways of structuring the world: social, political, and imaginative. Together, these logics help me answer the questions what, how, and why. Essentially, I am interested in capturing the conditions and fantasies that make practices of ‘saving’ deserted houses meaningful.