Older migrants reflecting on aging through attachment to and identification with places

Palladino, S (2019) Older migrants reflecting on aging through attachment to and identification with places. Journal of Aging Studies, 50. ISSN 0890-4065

Preview

Text PalladinoS(2019)-Older migrants reflecting on aging through attachment to and identification with places (1).pdf Download (196kB) | Preview

Abstract

With increasing numbers of older migrants adopting a transnational lifestyle or returning to their country of origin following retirement, the sense of attachment to and identification with the places they inhabit remains an under explored field of enquiry. Through an ethnographic approach, this paper seeks to raise awareness of the diversity within a group of older migrants, given the heterogeneity of affective bonds established with places. By highlighting the perspective of older Italian migrants living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, this paper illustrates the role of a sense of identification with the context of migration in later life. In referring to migration as a process of transformation, some older Italians re-define their identities, as these become interwoven with the characteristics of the places in which they grow older. However, older migrants' sense of attachment to places also reveals the complexity of aging in the context of migration, when a sense of identification with these is never fully achieved in older age. This paper argues that the notion of aging that these older Italian migrants uphold is not only altered by their experience of migration, but also shaped through their identification with the places they inhabit, given formal and informal practices of identification. Thus, by addressing the determinants for a positive experience of aging in the context of migration, this paper challenges the ways in which older migrant groups are conceptualized in gerontological scholarship.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	“NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in The journal of Aging Studies. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in The Journal of Aging Studies 50, 2019 doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2019.100788
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Simona Palladino
Date Deposited:	23 Jan 2020 16:34
Last Modified:	04 Jul 2021 00:15
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3005

Actions (login required)

View Item