The Front Room: Diaspora Migrant Aesthetics in the Home, originally
published in 2009, has become a beloved and much-praised source,
providing fascinating revelations into the post-war British experience
of immigrants, the decoration of their living spaces, and their position
in society in relation to decolonisation. The 'front room' (emanating
from the Victorian parlour) provides an outlet to respond to the
feelings of displacement, exile, and alienation, and the rebuilding of a
home in a strange land. Primarily concerned with Caribbean homes, The
Front Room also looks at Moroccan, Surinamese, Antillean, and
Indonesian migrant groups in Holland--encompassing, through texts,
archival documents, and artistic photographs, the important cultural
markers that are expressed through the domestic interiors of migrants.
The author examines how this intimate space within the home raises
issues of class, race, migration, aspiration, religion, family, gender,
identity, and alienation. He also looks at the transition from the
colonial post-colonial modernity by placing the book in the context of
his own family's migrant experience.
