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Languages of othering and cultural hybridity. Transnational cultures of ageing in the context of return to the Azores

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2020

Dora Sampaio Open the ORCID record for Dora Sampaio [Opens in a new window]
Dora Sampaio*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: sampaio@mmg.mpg.de
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Abstract

This article foregrounds the role of migration and transnational cultural exchange in the (trans)formation of cultures of ageing. It argues that sustained emigration and return to the Azores archipelago have contributed to the transnational production of hybrid cultures of ageing. The paper suggests that understanding transnational cultures of ageing in the context of return requires a broader field of enquiry that considers return migrants’ discursive framings in tension with transnational and local contexts. Returnees’ accounts of ageing, produced in relation to transnational exchange and local interactions, emphasise three intersecting themes – health and the ageing body, ageing and care, and mindset and work ethic in later life – which reveal a cultural shift towards forms of active ageing. The discussion shows that new, hybrid lexicons of ageing are articulated through practices and languages of othering and negotiating that are conducive to unsettling social relations and economic contexts in the homeland.

Keywords

ageingreturn migrationtransnationalismcultural hybridityotheringAzores
Type
Special Issue Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Special Issue 6: New Frontiers in International Retirement Migration , June 2021 , pp. 1289 - 1307
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

‡

Present address: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany

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