Making Sense of Belonging: Translocal Subjectivity and Rootedness of Turkish-Born Women in Sweden

Abstract

This article elaborates on how sense of belonging is constructed over the life course of individuals by mapping out the affective and material dimensions of belonging in a translocal context. Specifically, it focuses on Turkish-born women who migrated to Sweden in their early to mid-adulthood and have lived in Sweden for 40 years on average. It asks how they make sense of their belonging as they age in Sweden and aims to shed light on the complex and fluid nature of translocal subjectivities. The empirical material consists of 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with women aged 60 to 78. The analysis shows that belonging is informed by interconnected affective and material dimensions as individuals change and re-negotiate their situated life stories. The article concludes that belonging is temporally located over the life course and is constructed on a translocal scale which transcends national borders.