Transnational Mobilities as a Way of Life Among Older Migrants from Southern Europe

Abstract

This paper focuses on older Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese migrants who spent their working lives in Switzerland and explores their different forms of geographical mobility between Switzerland and their home countries. Although drawing inspiration from the transnationalism literature and the new mobilities paradigm, we do not neglect a more structural perspective that stresses the constraints endured by older migrants when they try to build mobile lives. We approach the issue of transnational mobility using mainly quantitative data from the survey Vivre-LebenVivere, which focuses on the living conditions and health of individuals aged 65 years and above currently living in Switzerland. Within this survey, an oversample of approximately 300 older immigrants of Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese origin aged between 65 and 79 years was conducted in Geneva and Basel. The quantitative data are complemented by material from interviews with three Spanish families living in Geneva. Our data show that to 'settle in Switzerland' or to return home does not imply that older immigrants' transnational mobility ceases. To some extent, it could be argued that they never really 'settled' and transnational mobility is a way of life that is more adapted to the duality of resources and references that they have built up during their adult life. Their geographical mobility can take different forms and is adapted to legal constraints, to family configurations, and to individual situations.

Conclusion: The Returns from Theory and a New Approach to Home

“…1 for an overview). While many migrants do return definitively, the available quantitative evidence indicates that those wishing to do so nonetheless constitute a minority, with the circular migration strategy of bi-residence being more popular (AttiasDonfut et al 2005;Bolzman et al 2016). The location of close relatives in the country of immigration -particularly a spouse or children -is highlighted as a major brake to definitive return (Ciobanu and Ramos 2015;Liversage and Mizrahi Mirdal 2017).…”

Older migrants and (im)mobilities of Ageing: An introduction

“…The papers by Gehring and Botterill illuminate lifestyle or amenity-seeking mobilities, respectively, focusing on Dutch migrants to Spain (Gehring, 2017) and British migrants to Thailand (Botterill, 2017). Older labour migrants, whether ageing "in place" or pursuing more mobile "bi-residence" lifestyles, feature in four of the articles, with papers, respectively, on Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese in Switzerland (Bolzman, Kaeser, & Christe, 2017); Spaniards in the Netherlands (Gehring, 2017); Turks in Belgium (Buffel, 2017); and Pakistanis in the UK (Ali & Suleman, 2017). The next section provides an overview of the papers.…”

Transnational aging: toward a transnational perspective in old age research

“…This literature reveals that older migrants engage in a variety of transnational practices, including the maintenance of close ties with friends and relatives in their country of origin, the cross-border utilization of healthcare services and the development of transnational identities through different forms of belonging to their earlier and recent communities (Baykara-Krumme 2013; Bolzman et al 2017;Smith Nielsen et al 2012). Questions of belonging have been relevant to transnational studies since their very beginning and are increasingly taken up by transnational aging scholars.…”