Place and belonging

This article explores our attachment to place and argues that this can be as or more important than our attachment to people. Whereas there is a wealth of literature about the latter, psychotherapists have written very little about the relationships we have with our homes and the territories around them. The article grew out my curiosity about my affinity with particular landscapes, and about the emotions and memories evoked by house moves. Conversations with others about their childhood and present homes raised further questions. My writing has been informed by memoirs written by "cultural nomads" as well as by some of the tragic stories that have hit the headlines recently of people across the world forced to relocate because of natural disasters and political conflicts. If articles have dedications, then this one is dedicated to the homeless, wherever they are.