Places that Matter: Place Attachment and Wellbeing of Older Antillean Migrants in the Netherlands

Debbie Lager; Bettina van Hoven; Louise Meijering

doi:10.2478/v10105-012-0007-6

Authors

Debbie Lager Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
Bettina van Hoven Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands
Louise Meijering Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, PO Box 800, 9700AV Groningen, the Netherlands

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10105-012-0007-6

Keywords:

ageing, place attachment, wellbeing, Antillean migrants, the Netherlands, senior cohousing community

Abstract

It has been argued that attachment to place increases wellbeing in old age (Wiles et al., 2009). Feeling ‘in place’ can increase an older person's wellbeing. For older migrants it can be a challenge to live in-between cultures. The objective of the article is to explore how older Antillean migrants derive a sense of wellbeing from attachment to their everyday places. We do so by drawing on in-depth interviews and a photography project with Antilleans who live in a senior cohousing community in a city in the Northern Netherlands. Based on the study, we conclude that the cohousing community acted as a central setting of experience from which the participants explored their wider surroundings and developed new attachments in the neighbourhood.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

BECKER, G. (2003), ‘Meanings of Place and Displacement in Three Groups of Older Immigrants’, Journal of Aging Studies, 17 (2), pp. 129–149.
Google Scholar

BIH, H. (1992), ‘The Meaning of Objects in Environmental Transitions: Experiences of Chinese Students in the United States’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 12 (2), pp. 135–147.
Google Scholar

BLUNT, A. and DOWLING, R. (2006), Home, Oxon: Routledge.
Google Scholar

BOLZMAN, C., FIBBI, R. and VIAL, M. (2006), ‘What to Do after Retirement? Elderly Migrants and the Question of Return’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 32 (8), pp. 1359–1375.
Google Scholar

BRITTANICA (2009), Encyclopædia Britannica. Papiamentu http://www.britannica.com/EB-checked/topic/442065/Papiamentu 1 July 2010.
Google Scholar

BUITELAAR, M. (2007), ‘Staying Close by Moving out. The Contextual Meanings of Personal Autonomy in the Life Stories of Women of Moroccan Descent in the Netherlands’, Contemporary Islam, 1 (1), pp. 3–22.
Google Scholar

CBS NETHERLANDS (2010), Migratie; land van herkomst / vestiging, geboorteland en geslacht (Migration; Country of Origin / Establishment, Country of Birth and Sex), Den Haag-Heerlen: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Statline.
Google Scholar

CHOI, J. S. (2004), ‘Evaluation of Community Planning and Life of Senior Cohousing Projects in Northern European Countries’, European Planning Studies, 12 (8), pp. 1189–1216.
Google Scholar

DAATLAND, S. O. and BIGGS, S. (eds.), (2006), Ageing and Diversity: Multiple Pathways and Cultural Migrations, Bristol: Policy Press.
Google Scholar

DAVIDSON, K., WARREN, L. and MAYNARD, M. (2005), ‘Social Involvement. Aspects of Gender and Ethnicity’, [in:] A. WALKER (ed.), Understanding Quality of Life in Old Age, Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 84–99.
Google Scholar

DAYARATNE, R. and KELLETT, P. (2008), ‘Housing and Home-Making in Low-Income Urban Settlements: Sri Lanka and Colombia’, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 23 (1), pp. 53–70.
Google Scholar

FASSMANN, H. and MUNZ, R. (1992), ‘Patterns and Trends of International Migration in Western Europe’, Population and Development Review, 18 (3), pp. 457–480.
Google Scholar

FGW (Federatie Gemeenschappelijk Wonen), (2006), Gemeenschappelijk wonen. Meer dan wonen (Communal Housing. More than Living), Utrecht: Federatie Gemeenschappelijk Wonen.
Google Scholar

FROMM, D. and JONG, E. de (2009), ‘Community and Health: Immigrant Senior Cohousing in the Netherlands’, Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture, 145, pp. 50–53.
Google Scholar

INGERSOLL-DAYTON, B. (2011), ‘The Development of Culturally-Sensitive Measures for Research on Ageing’, Ageing and Society, 31 (3), pp. 355–370.
Google Scholar

LIAMPUTTONG, P. and EZZY, D. (2005), Qualitative Research Methods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar

LVGO (2010), Landelijke vereniging groepswonen van ouderen (National Association for Senior Cohousing Communities) http://www.lvgo.nl 5 November 2011.
Google Scholar

MANZO, L. C. (2005), ‘For Better or Worse: Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Place Meaning’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25 (1), pp. 67–86.
Google Scholar

MAZUMDAR, S. and MAZUMDAR, S. (2009), ‘Religion, Immigration, and Home Making in Diaspora: Hindu Space in Southern California’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29 (2), pp. 256–266.
Google Scholar

MCHUGH, K. E. and LARSON-KEAGY, E. M. (2005), ‘These White Walls: The Dialectic of Retirement Communities’, Journal of Aging Studies, 19 (2), pp. 241–256.
Google Scholar

MERZ, E., ÖZEKE-KOCABAS, E., OORT, F. J. and SCHUENGEL, C. (2009), ‘Intergenerational Family Solidarity: Value Differences between Immigrant Groups and Generations’, Journal of Family Psychology, 23 (3), pp. 291–300.
Google Scholar

MILLIGAN, C. (2009), There's No Place Like Home: Place and Care in an Ageing Society, Farnham: Ashgate.
Google Scholar

ONS (Onderzoek en Statistiek Groningen), (2011), Gronometer, groningen.buurtmonitor.nl, 31 August.
Google Scholar

PEACE, S. M., HOLLAND, C. and KELLAHER, L. (2006), Environment and Identity in later Life, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Google Scholar

PERCIVAL, J. (2002), ‘Domestic Spaces: Uses and Meanings in the Daily Lives of Older People’, Ageing and Society, 22 (6), pp. 729–749.
Google Scholar

PHILLIPSON, C. (2007), ‘The "Elected" and the "Excluded": Sociological Perspectives on the Experience of Place and Community in Old Age’, Ageing and Society, 27 (3), pp. 321–342.
Google Scholar

PHINNEY, J. S., HORENCZYK, G., LIEBKIND, K. and VEDDER, P. (2001), ‘Ethnic Identity, Immigration, and Well-Being: An Interactional Perspective’, Journal of Social Issues, 57 (3), pp. 493–510.
Google Scholar

PONZETTI, J. (2003), ‘Growing Old in Rural Communities: A Visual Methodology for Studying Place Attachment’, Journal of Rural Community Psychology, E6 (1).
Google Scholar

RIOUX, L. (2005), ‘The Well-Being of Aging People Living in Their Own Homes’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25 (2), pp. 231–243.
Google Scholar

RUBINSTEIN, R. L. and PARMELEE, P. A. (1992), ‘Attachment to Place and the Representation of Life Course by the Elderly’, [in:] ALTMAN, I. and LOW, S. M. (eds.), Place Attachment, New York: Plenum Press, pp. 139–163.
Google Scholar

SCANNELL, L. and GIFFORD, R. (2010), ‘Defining Place Attachment: A Tripartite Organizing Framework’, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30 (1), pp. 1–10.
Google Scholar

SCHELLINGERHOU T, R. (ed.), (2004), Gezondheid en welzijn van allochtone ouderen (Health and Well-Being of Older People Originating from Other Countries), the Hague: Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (SCP).
Google Scholar

SMITH, A. E. (2009), Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods, Bristol: Policy Press.
Google Scholar

SNEL, E., ENGBERSEN, G. and LEERKES, A. (2006), ‘Transnational Involvement and Social Integration’, Global Networks, 6 (3), pp. 285–308.
Google Scholar

STAVENUITER, M. and DONGEN, M. C. van (2008), Gemeenschappelijk wonen: Een literatuurstudie (Communal Living: A Literature Study), Utrecht: Verwey-Jonker Instituut.
Google Scholar

WHITE, A. M. and GROVES, M. A. (1997), ‘Interdependence and the Aged Stereotype’, Australasian Journal on Ageing, 16 (2), pp. 83–89.
Google Scholar

WILES, J. L., ALLEN, R. E. S., PALMER, A. J., HAYMAN, K. J., KEELING, S. and KERSE, N. (2009), ‘Older People and Their Social Spaces: A Study of Well-Being and Attachment to Place in Aotearoa New Zealand’, Social Science and Medicine, 68 (4), pp. 664–671.
Google Scholar

YOUNG, A. F., RUSSELL, A. and POWERS, J. R. (2004), ‘The Sense of Belonging to a Neighbourhood: Can It Be Measured and Is It Related to Health and Well Being in Older Women?’, Social Science and Medicine, 59 (12), pp. 2627–2637.
Google Scholar