Changing relationships to the country of origin through transnational mobility: migrant youth’s visits to Ghana

Abstract

This paper explores how physical mobility shapes migrant youth's changing relationships to their or their parents' country of origin. Increasing numbers of youth in the Global North have a migration background and are transnationally engaged in virtual, imaginative and material mobilities. Yet our knowledge of their physical mobility is lacking, having largely been based on retrospective accounts from the country of residence, resulting in depictions of static relationships to a monolithic country of origin. This study takes a processual approach, focusing on mobility trajectories and exploring the sensorial, embodied and emotional aspects of physical mobility as it unfolds. Drawing on 14 months of mobile ethnographic fieldwork with 20 Ghanaian-background young people (aged 15-25) living in Hamburg, Germany, we focus on visits to Ghana to explore how physical mobility changes relationships to the country of origin over time (across several visits) and space (between different places within one visit). We use Urry's typology of proximity to analyse the specific and changing constellations of people, places and moments that constitute visits and thus shape these relationships. We also reflect on the methodological implications of using three mobile methods: mobility trajectory mapping, following mobility in real-time, and before-and-after interviewing.

Transnational youth mobility: new categories for migrant youth research

“…For example, for people with a migration background home visits can have various purposes such as tourism, attendance at ceremonies such as funerals or marriages, and family visits (Janta, Cohen, and Williams 2015 ; Urry 2002 ). Furthermore, for ‘home’ visits we know that who is visited (family, friends, other) affects the experience of such visits (Akom Ankobrey, Mazzucato, and Wagner 2020 ; Ogden and Mazzucato 2021 ). For all young people, irrespective of migration background, it may be important to know with whom young people travelled (parents, other family, friends, alone) as this affects the types of activities engaged in (Akom Ankobrey, Mazzucato, and Wagner 2020 ; Anschütz & Mazzucato, 2022 ; Ogden and Mazzucato 2021 ).…”

“…Furthermore, for ‘home’ visits we know that who is visited (family, friends, other) affects the experience of such visits (Akom Ankobrey, Mazzucato, and Wagner 2020 ; Ogden and Mazzucato 2021 ). For all young people, irrespective of migration background, it may be important to know with whom young people travelled (parents, other family, friends, alone) as this affects the types of activities engaged in (Akom Ankobrey, Mazzucato, and Wagner 2020 ; Anschütz & Mazzucato, 2022 ; Ogden and Mazzucato 2021 ). Finally, we know that the experiences of home visits by migrants to their origin country are affected by the length of stay and the timing of such visits (King and Lulle 2015 ; Osei, Mazzucato, and Haagsman 2022 ).…”

Education and the making of mobile livelihoods: Dubai Indian families’ trajectories over time and space

“…Beyond the initial shock derived from her first few months in India, Neelu's accounts emphasized how her relationship with her country of ‘origin’ changed over time (Ogden & Mazzucato, 2021). She, and others like her, highlighted how during their university studies in India, they matured and became independent, accomplishments that were valued highly in the Gulf, where childhoods are perceived as being sheltered.…”

Being “Both”: Identifications of Second and Third Generation Brussels Muslim Youths towards the Country of Origin and the Country of Residence

“…However, the same assumes that such an approach is not necessarily true when studying migrants' children". This observation is even more striking when considering that there are many young people with a migrant background in major European cities, which is a significant demographic evolution (Ogden and Mazzucato 2021). In 2021, 20% of people in Belgium were of foreign descent 12 .…”