‘Home to go’: Albanian older parents in transnational social fields
‘Home to go’: Albanian older parents in transnational social fields
Albania is one of the countries with the youngest population in Europe, yet concerns for its elderly have rapidly taken centre-stage due to large-scale internal and international migration since 1990. Given that mobility in Albania was extremely limited during nearly half a century of communist rule, adjusting to the new post- communist reality has not been easy for this group. Yet the story of ‘orphan pensioners’ trapped in the vortex of rapid post-communist transformations has gradually made place for the emerging image of the ‘migrating grannies’ who feel rather at home as ‘transnational grandparents’. Drawing on narratives of older people collected during research in Albania over several years, this chapter seeks to examine the impact of transnational migration on their understandings and experiences of ‘home’, ‘home making’ and ageing. Notions of ‘home’ as a locus of intimate relations and multi-sitedness given meaning by emotions, practices and materialities will be discussed alongside politics of gender, class and intra-family relations.
home, transnational migration, age, older people, Albania, translational care, ageing and migration
38-50
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b
1 April 2015
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b
Vullnetari, Julie
(2015)
‘Home to go’: Albanian older parents in transnational social fields.
In,
Walsh, Katie and Näre, Lena
(eds.)
Transnational Migration and Home in Older Age.
Abingdon, GB.
Routledge, .
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
Albania is one of the countries with the youngest population in Europe, yet concerns for its elderly have rapidly taken centre-stage due to large-scale internal and international migration since 1990. Given that mobility in Albania was extremely limited during nearly half a century of communist rule, adjusting to the new post- communist reality has not been easy for this group. Yet the story of ‘orphan pensioners’ trapped in the vortex of rapid post-communist transformations has gradually made place for the emerging image of the ‘migrating grannies’ who feel rather at home as ‘transnational grandparents’. Drawing on narratives of older people collected during research in Albania over several years, this chapter seeks to examine the impact of transnational migration on their understandings and experiences of ‘home’, ‘home making’ and ageing. Notions of ‘home’ as a locus of intimate relations and multi-sitedness given meaning by emotions, practices and materialities will be discussed alongside politics of gender, class and intra-family relations.
Text
Vullnetari (2015) Home to go_AM-Dec14-clean.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: December 2014
Published date: 1 April 2015
Keywords:
home, transnational migration, age, older people, Albania, translational care, ageing and migration
Organisations:
Economy, Governance & Culture
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 377136
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377136
PURE UUID: 55903c49-325d-4c0f-9a58-6ab678252357
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 15 May 2015 10:39
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:50
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Contributors
Editor:
Katie Walsh
Editor:
Lena Näre
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