Dear Homemaker,

I hope you have had a happy summer and were able to enjoy time with your family. As our world faces so many challenges, we and our households face a difficult autumn. As always though, we know that it will be the values and care of the home which will help see us through.

We have worked hard this year to bring our latest publication to press. ‘Happiness and Domestic Life‘ was available from the end of August. This book uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine the relationship between the quality of domestic life and the home environment in the context of current changes.  Our books add substantially to academic discourse on the “missing dimension” of the home and are published by the prestigious Routledge publishing house.  Intended for this academic audience the book is also available in an online version. If you are following this aspect of our work and would like a copy, please see here for a discount code: ADC22

Today, Thursday 6 October, is the first online launch of ‘Happiness and Domestic Life’ with the Argentinian association, MIF, Mujeres Independientes y Federales, 9.30h in Argentina, 13.30h in UK, 14.30h in Rome. This Spanish language launch will be led by the distinguished philosopher and editor of the book Professor Maria Teresa Russo, and our head of Communication, Ángela de Miguel. If you would like to join, please register and the link will be sent to you. We are also working on future presentations in Italy, Poland, UK and Spain. If any researchers are reading this and you would like to discuss organising a round table to address these issues in your university, please do get in touch with us.

The main focus of our autumn has been our Expert Meeting: ‘The Home and Displaced People’ on 22 – 23 September. Supported by the Social Trends Institute, we were the guests of the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. This meeting of experts in migration theory, policy and practice marks a new focus so far unexplored by HRF, but one which generated very valuable and promising engagement.

Migration crises and the uprooting of people who are forced to leave their country of origin is a reality that affects millions of people. Experts discussed dignity, respect, solidarity, identity, integration, work, care, mental health, violence, racism, policies, entrepreneurship, investment. It was two days of rich multidisciplinary conversation and continuous learning that our experts will soon put down on paper but in the meantime here is the video.

There is lots of information here and food for thought for the coming months, so I shall just close by wishing you and your homes a good and fruitful season,

Bryan K. Sanderson