Belonging and Belongings

Laura Merla is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Families and Sexualities (CIRFASE) at the University of Louvain.Bérengère Nobels is Scientific Collaborator at the University of Louvain.

• 1. Shared Custody and Sense of Home: The Child's Point of View2. Parental Islands3. The Journey Between Islands: Transitioning from One Dwelling to the Other4. Routines and Rituals of Return5. Making Each Island ‘One's Own Island': Defining and Negotiating One's Place6. Maintaining One's Place During Absence7. A 'Singular-Plural' Sense of HomeConcluding Reflections

“Belonging and Belongings provides an extraordinary portrayal of the experiences of children living in multiple households. It is especially laudable that the book takes a multimethodological explorative approach capturing the very words, images and connections of families while they are getting transformed by shared custody arrangements. Family scholars and professionals will find it extremely insightful.” Laura Bernardi, University of Lausanne“I LOVE this book. It is rich in ground-breaking insights and a must-read for anyone interested in the latest research on shared parenting. Children have a way of telling it like it is, and the authors have clearly heard them.” Bruce M. Smyth, Australian National University