In search of the familiar in the (un)familiar : looking for the poetic in the everyday

Abstract

Inspired by past M.Arch. dissertation research done at the Faculty for the Built Environment relating to familiarity, the dissertation research builds on this knowledge to delve further into the exploration of familiarity in an (un)familiar context. As discussed in the Literature Review and in discussion with Guillaume Dreyfuss, familiarity can come about and be achieved in different ways, resulting in multiple levels of belonging. The dissertation formulates a study which explores this by looking at the experience of (in)siders when compared to that of (out)siders in the village of Żurrieq, unveiling the source of familiarity for each. The subjective and interpretative nature of this exploration make the study a hermeneutic one, based on Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The study mainly revealed that people, in general, feel the need to perceive Place as being familiar. Proving this point, familiarity, albeit at a varied depth, is felt by all the participants in the study through unveiling triggers hidden within the context. The source of these triggers, however, differs between the participants. For some it is memory, grounded in the everyday; for some it is metaphor, recalling a distant past which happened elsewhere; while for others it was the dream, rooted in the imagination. The presence of multiple triggers result in Place being perceived and experienced differently. This does not make the experience any less real, but is understood as being one of the stories embedded in Place. Through these findings, the aim of the dissertation research is to encourage one to treat the notions of familiarity more sensitively, particularly in a context like Malta, where the built environment and the demographic are currently undergoing a dramatic shift. The researcher also inspires to utilise the dissertation to establish a united body of research by consolidating past relevant research to instigate further studies.