Age and Home in Migration

Abstract

Age, generation and life-course transitions are key considerations in the analysis of home and homing processes in migration. Drawing on the growing scholarship in the field, this chapter explores the ways in which practices and experiences of home in migration are inflected by age, generation and life-course transitions. It focuses specifically on home in migration in older age, young adulthood and childhood. Three key points are highlighted: first, the emotional and material aspects of home take on significance in different ways at different stages of the life-course and migrant journey. Second, feeling at home in migration is a constant process that is constantly worked at through childhood, youth and into older age. Third, age, generation and life-course are socio-spatial structures that intersect with gender, social class, race/ethnicity and residence status to variably open up and close off possibilities of feeling at home for migrants.