The affective possibilities of London: Antipodean transnationals and the overseas experience

Conradson, David and Latham, Alan (2007) The affective possibilities of London: Antipodean transnationals and the overseas experience. Mobilities, 2 (2), 231-254. (doi:10.1080/17450100701381573).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper contributes to research on the lived dimensions of transnational mobility through an engagement with recent work on affect. Drawing on interviews with New Zealand skilled migrants, we argue that the attractions and experience of relocation to London are significantly connected to the affective possibilities it offers. As a diverse and enlivening set of ecologies of place, London appears to facilitate a certain feeling of being in the heart of things, an embodied state that is both valued and closely linked to New Zealand's former status as a British colony. We argue that considering the affective possibilities of cities - and the diverse ways in which transnational migrants perceive and appropriate these possibilities - offers valuable insights into the dynamics of subjectivity in a mobile world.

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Published date: July 2007

Additional Information: This paper offers new perspectives for researching transnational mobility by engaging with emerging theorisations of affect. It examines how the experiential possibilities of world city destinations are perceived and valued, both within and beyond the monetary economy. First author analysed 80% of data and wrote 80% of the text.

Keywords: transnational mobility, affect, subjectivity, london, new zealand, cosmopolitan