Following the ‘hype’: The role of leisure practices during ‘homeland’ visits in transnational youth's way of relating to Ghana

Abstract

Drawing on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Netherlands and Ghana, this paper combines 'return' mobilities literature and youth studies to analyse the role of leisure practices during 'homeland' visits in transnational youth's way of relating to Ghana when they are entering into adulthood. Using the notion of mobility trajectories, the paper shows that leisure practices facilitate young people's ability to establish and renew intimate transnational relationships with diasporic friends, and Ghana-based same-generation relatives and romantic partners.Differing from earlier stays in Ghana, young people expressed their emerging sense of independence by exploring alternative sides of the country with these peers, based on common interests and belonging to the same life-cycle cohort. The findings add complexity to the notion of the 'homeland' as a monolithic place of reconnecting with family and roots by drawing attention to the intersection between young people's pathways to adulthood and transnational mobility.

Pacing mobility trajectories: Temporality and agency in ‘home’ visits by migrant youth

“…But experiences also differ depending on the activities undertaken (ranging from funerals to leisure) and the places visited (outside vs. indoors). As they transitioned into adulthood, young people's interests increasingly shifted from family towards peer relationships (see also Akom Ankobrey, 2023) and they developed a desire to be independent of adults but were not always able to fulfill this desire, which at times resulted in experiences of discontent or boredom. The following section will illustrate how, when young people do gain independence, they are able to actively pace their visits and craft experiences to their liking through the use of technology.…”