The Purse: Carrying Around My Private World

Abstract

The purse is an object so ordinary and everyday that it is unlikely to have elicited much thought or reflection. Nevertheless, its capacity to extend the domestic into the foreign and provide a private space in public mark it as unique. In this paper, inspired by Heidegger’s jug, I examine the particularities of the purse and reflect on its unique meanings as a carrier of a private world.