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Ageing ‘here’ or ‘there’? Spatio-temporalities in older labour migrants’ return aspirations from the azores
Version 2 2023-06-12, 08:45
Version 1 2023-06-09, 08:21
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-12, 08:45 authored by Dora SampaioIn this article, I seek to unpack the multiple spatio-temporalities in older migrants’ ideas about return, shedding light on the complex set of motivations and imaginaries that precede return migration. The paper springs from a space-time approach based on the assertion that return aspirations are continuously shaped and negotiated both in and out of place. The discussion is framed around 36 in-depth life narrative interviews with later-life labour migrants living in the Azores, and a seven-month period of ethnographic fieldwork. The role of spatial dimensions such as the place of settlement and the country of origin, and temporal features such as age, length of stay in the host country or stage of life at the time of migration, is discussed in detail. The paper identifies a ‘family-work matrix’ and a ‘home-host country dialectic’ as central forces shaping migrants’ thoughts and possibilities of return. The multi-stranded, time-fluid, space-induced, context-dependent nature of (return) migration decisions is highlighted and it is shown that an apparent satisfactory social integration in the destination country does not, by itself, prevent migrants’ desire to return.
Funding
Ageing and migration in the Azores; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology; SFRH/BD/87963/2012
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
FinisterraISSN
0430-5027Publisher
Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Estudos GeográficosExternal DOI
Issue
106Volume
52Page range
49-64Department affiliated with
- Geography Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Sussex Centre for Migration Research Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-10-19First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-02-05First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-02-05Usage metrics
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