Home

Abstract: The word "home" can refer to a dwelling place, a family unit, a household, a domestic space, an institutional setting (a care home or a mother and baby home), but also, in Ireland, to a political movement for independence: Home Rule. This essay considers the root meanings of the word, and traces the development of its varied uses from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, reflecting on the impact of emigration, the land wars, gendered institutionalization, property speculation, and contemporary housing policy.