ABSTRACT

The current generation of senior citizens strives for a self-determined way of life and frequently materialises this through relocation to tourist destinations. Based on this premise, this paper analyses German (pre)retirees who are planning or have realised inter-regional lifestyle migration to Bad Fuessing, a spa town in Southern Germany. While recent studies have focused on lifestyle migrants’ perspectives in pre- and post-migration lives, this article adds local stakeholders’ assessments of age-selective in-migration. It is proposed that locals view the latter ambivalently against the backdrop of demographic change and transformations in health tourism. The article opens up lifestyle migration research to applied questions by considering the economic and social implications for destinations, i.e. it takes into account the structures that frame migration.

KEYWORDS: tourism, lifestyle migration, ageing, regional development, Germany

ABSTRACT

The current generation of senior citizens strives for a self-determined way of life and frequently materialises this through relocation to tourist destinations. Based on this premise, this paper analyses German (pre)retirees who are planning or have realised inter-regional lifestyle migration to Bad Fuessing, a spa town in Southern Germany. While recent studies have focused on lifestyle migrants’ perspectives in pre- and post-migration lives, this article adds local stakeholders’ assessments of age-selective in-migration. It is proposed that locals view the latter ambivalently against the backdrop of demographic change and transformations in health tourism. The article opens up lifestyle migration research to applied questions by considering the economic and social implications for destinations, i.e. it takes into account the structures that frame migration.

KEYWORDS: tourism, lifestyle migration, ageing, regional development, Germany

ABSTRACT

One of the fundamental issues in lifestyle migration is that the ideals behind it, a quest for a better way of life, are not homogenous across groups and contexts. Unlike other conceptual frameworks within migration, lifestyle migration is embedded in a cultural framing where participants draw from a variety of cultural structures to make sense of their experiences. In this paper, I examine narratives from participants in lifestyle migration in Australia. Buried in these narratives are three broad themes: anti-consumerism, nostalgia and boundary maintenance. Using a cultural sociological lens, I propose that this demonstrates the flexibility of the concept of lifestyle migration but also reflects the usefulness of cultural sociology in unpacking this phenomenon further.

KEY WORDS: cultural sociology, lifestyle migration, time, nostalgia, cultural boundaries

ABSTRACT

One of the fundamental issues in lifestyle migration is that the ideals behind it, a quest for a better way of life, are not homogenous across groups and contexts. Unlike other conceptual frameworks within migration, lifestyle migration is embedded in a cultural framing where participants draw from a variety of cultural structures to make sense of their experiences. In this paper, I examine narratives from participants in lifestyle migration in Australia. Buried in these narratives are three broad themes: anti-consumerism, nostalgia and boundary maintenance. Using a cultural sociological lens, I propose that this demonstrates the flexibility of the concept of lifestyle migration but also reflects the usefulness of cultural sociology in unpacking this phenomenon further.

KEY WORDS: cultural sociology, lifestyle migration, time, nostalgia, cultural boundaries

ABSTRACT

This introductory article provides an overview of the predominant themes that have been explored within the field of lifestyle migration research. In this way, it seeks to locate the contributions to this special section within a wider field, showcasing their innovation. It highlights longstanding interests in migrant subjectivities, cultural narratives of place and migration, alongside a consistent focus on understanding the structural conditions that promote and facilitate lifestyle migration. This overview introduces the field of research to a non-specialist audience and organizes existing theoretical and conceptual concerns within the field.

KEY WORDS: lifestyle migration, migrant subjectivities, cultural imaginaries, migration and social transformation

ABSTRACT

This introductory article provides an overview of the predominant themes that have been explored within the field of lifestyle migration research. In this way, it seeks to locate the contributions to this special section within a wider field, showcasing their innovation. It highlights longstanding interests in migrant subjectivities, cultural narratives of place and migration, alongside a consistent focus on understanding the structural conditions that promote and facilitate lifestyle migration. This overview introduces the field of research to a non-specialist audience and organizes existing theoretical and conceptual concerns within the field.

KEY WORDS: lifestyle migration, migrant subjectivities, cultural imaginaries, migration and social transformation

This thematic section is focused on lifestyle migration, a social phenomenon that foregrounds the role of lifestyle considerations within migration (Benson and O’Reilly 2009; Knowles and Harper 2009). For the large part, this theoretical and conceptual framework has been used to explain the migration of the relatively affluent and is part of a more general shift within migration studies to increase the visibility of the migration of the more privileged, a population flow that, as Amit (2007) has argued, is poorly understood and collectively conceptualized. It has precursors—international retirement migration, leisure migration, counterurbanization, second-home ownership, amenity migration—within migration research, but these rarely captured the full complexity of this phenomenon, delimited around concerns such as aging, and privileging place to the exclusion of subjectivities (for an overview of this discussion see Benson and O’Reilly 2009). The development of the concept of lifestyle migration, primarily identified through rich ethnographic research (see for example Hoey 2005, 2006; Knowles and Harper 2009), sought to “examine both the similarities and differences within this growing trend as well as to begin to draw attention to its location in wider structural and historical forces and its local and global impacts” (Benson and O'Reilly 2009), with lifestyle migration defined “as a spatial mobility of relatively affluent individuals of all ages, moving either part-time or full-time to places that are meaningful because, for various reasons, they offer the potential of a better quality of life” (ibid).

This thematic section is focused on lifestyle migration, a social phenomenon that foregrounds the role of lifestyle considerations within migration (Benson and O’Reilly 2009; Knowles and Harper 2009). For the large part, this theoretical and conceptual framework has been used to explain the migration of the relatively affluent and is part of a more general shift within migration studies to increase the visibility of the migration of the more privileged, a population flow that, as Amit (2007) has argued, is poorly understood and collectively conceptualized. It has precursors—international retirement migration, leisure migration, counterurbanization, second-home ownership, amenity migration—within migration research, but these rarely captured the full complexity of this phenomenon, delimited around concerns such as aging, and privileging place to the exclusion of subjectivities (for an overview of this discussion see Benson and O’Reilly 2009). The development of the concept of lifestyle migration, primarily identified through rich ethnographic research (see for example Hoey 2005, 2006; Knowles and Harper 2009), sought to “examine both the similarities and differences within this growing trend as well as to begin to draw attention to its location in wider structural and historical forces and its local and global impacts” (Benson and O'Reilly 2009), with lifestyle migration defined “as a spatial mobility of relatively affluent individuals of all ages, moving either part-time or full-time to places that are meaningful because, for various reasons, they offer the potential of a better quality of life” (ibid).

ABSTRACT

The text explains the historical context of the female migrations known as aleksandrinstvo in the Goriška region; it presents the artistic, scientific and other aspects of the presentations and representations of this phenomenon in the last decade; and it describes the active role of individuals in the re-creation of the memory of the female migrants called aleksandrinke. Since 2005, the descendants and family members of aleksandrinke and the local population have taken an active role in the creation of the memory and cultural heritage of these migrants. The goal is to record and store as many authentic personal testimonies using biographical methodology, which has been used by scholars as well as the local population. The text shows the importance of all these activities to a crucial change in the understanding of aleksandrinstvo, which was deeply imbedded in a discourse of moral condemnation before 2005. The text also poses the question of the impact of the authentic stories of aleksandrinke on their cultural heritage at the local and the national level.

KEY WORDS: aleksandrinke, migrations, women, biographical method, re-creation of memory

ABSTRACT

The text explains the historical context of the female migrations known as aleksandrinstvo in the Goriška region; it presents the artistic, scientific and other aspects of the presentations and representations of this phenomenon in the last decade; and it describes the active role of individuals in the re-creation of the memory of the female migrants called aleksandrinke. Since 2005, the descendants and family members of aleksandrinke and the local population have taken an active role in the creation of the memory and cultural heritage of these migrants. The goal is to record and store as many authentic personal testimonies using biographical methodology, which has been used by scholars as well as the local population. The text shows the importance of all these activities to a crucial change in the understanding of aleksandrinstvo, which was deeply imbedded in a discourse of moral condemnation before 2005. The text also poses the question of the impact of the authentic stories of aleksandrinke on their cultural heritage at the local and the national level.

KEY WORDS: aleksandrinke, migrations, women, biographical method, re-creation of memory