University of Sussex
Browse
Manuscript Area_Dora Sampaio.pdf (287.24 kB)

A place to grow older… alone? Living and ageing as a single older lifestyle migrant in the Azores

Download (287.24 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 11:53 authored by Dora Sampaio
International retirement migration has been typically regarded as a couple’s project. Much less is known about single lifestyle migrants who settle and age abroad and those who, after the loss of their spouse, decide to stay put. Informed by a larger pool of 36 life-narrative interviews with later-life lifestyle migrants in the Azores, and structured around four selected portrayals, this paper seeks to explore meanings of place in later life and to unpack the complex set of negotiations that the ageing self undergoes in a context of migration. Drawing on relational and unbound understandings of place, I question traditional assumptions that see single older migrants abroad as vulnerable and dependent, emphasising a more complex set of needs, desires and expectations in (and for) later-life. For these migrants, emplaced living and ageing experiences are ambiguously mixed. The islands are described as places of freedom and self-actualisation, and also “safe ports” in later-life. Yet, this does not prevent intermittent feelings of isolation and loneliness, including the desire to restore some sense of companionship and romantic life.

Funding

Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; Doctoral Grant: SFRH/BD/87963/2012

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Area

ISSN

0004-0894

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

4

Volume

50

Page range

459-466

Department affiliated with

  • Geography Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Migration Research Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-02-02

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-03-12

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-02-02

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC