Concrete Memories and the Politics of Home: A Transnational and Spatial History of European Migration to Canada (1945-1967)

CoME-HOME is a transnational and spatial history of European migration to Canada (1945–1967) that places housing and the making of “home” at the centre of migration history. While existing scholarship has foregrounded mobility and integration, far less attention has been paid to how migrants navigated housing shortages and urban redevelopment in the postwar period. The project addresses this gap by examining how displaced persons, refugees, and labour migrants built homes, confronted discrimination, and at times benefited from forms of privilege in mid-twentieth-century Canada. Through comparative case studies of Toronto, a rapidly expanding metropolis, and Halifax, a major port of arrival, it traces diverse migrant experiences and connects them to broader transatlantic debates on citizenship and belonging. Combining archival research, oral history interviews, and spatial and digital analysis, the project links individual life histories to the restructuring of urban landscapes and to wider discussions on housing, integration, and citizenship. Investigating postwar migration to Canada therefore goes beyond mapping transatlantic movements to analyse how “Europe” itself functioned as a category of governance, differentiation, and belonging, a perspective that remains salient today as housing crises and politicised debates over migration, borders, and integration continue to shape public discourse in both Europe and Canada. The project will generate new insights into the entanglement of migration and housing, with relevance for migration history, urban studies, and citizenship research, and will produce peer-reviewed articles, a monograph proposal, and a digital exhibition developed in collaboration with cultural institutions such as the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. The fellowship will also provide advanced training in oral history, digital humanities, and interdisciplinary project management, supported by an institutional network spanning the University of Pavia (host), York University of Toronto (outgoing phase), and University College London (secondment).