Moving possessions: an analysis based on personal documents from the 1847-1869 Mormon migration

Article Abstract:

Possessions may be a burden to nomadic people of the present and past, but for those moving to more permanent dwellings, possessions offer a means to shed, transport, or create meanings across locales. Mormon pioneer diaries and other historical personal documents are used to assess the meanings and importance of the possessions these pioneers brought on their journey. Computer-assisted qualitative analyses of these documents suggested five major categories of possession symbolism: (1) sacred meanings, (2) material meanings, (3) personal meanings, (4) familial meanings, and (5) communal meanings. Within some of these categories of meaning there are notable differences between men and women. Even though the present findings are based on a particular group and time period, it seems likely that these types of symbolic possession meanings are also to be found in other moves. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Analysis, Management, Behavior, Property, Frontier and pioneer life, Frontier life, Mormons

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Artifacts, identity, and transition: favorite possessions of Indians and Indian immigrants to the United States

Article Abstract:

The things to which we are attached help to define who we are, who we were, and who we hope to become. These meanings are likely to be especially salient to those in identity transitions. In this study we examine such meanings by comparing favorite possessions of Indians in India and Indians who immigrated to the United States. Because the Indian sense of self differs considerably from Western concepts, these immigrants provide an interesting and important group in which to examine the use of possessions in securing identity. Results suggest that possessions play an important role in the reconstruction of immigrant identity. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

United States, India, Immigrants, Identity, Emigration and immigration, Indians in the United States, Indians (Asian people), Self, Indians, Self (Psychology)

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Possessions and the extended self

Article Abstract:

Our possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of our identities. A variety of evidence is presented supporting this simple and compelling premise. Related streams of research are identified and drawn upon in developing this concept and implications are derived for consumer behavior. Because the construct of extended self involves consumer behavior rather than buyer behavior, it appears to be a much richer construct than previous formulations positing a relationship between self-concept and consumer brand choice. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Brand choice, Consumer behavior, Personal property

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