Changing Belongings in the Life Cycle. Collective Shifts in the Life Trajectories of Older Migrants in Australia.

As stated in migration research, we-group belongings can transform in the migration process. Different social discourses, knowledge bases and values in the sending and the receiving societies lead to a reinterpretation of the sense of belonging. In this paper I will discuss the change of belonging in the life cycle and especially in older age. I will present first results of my biographical and ethnographical study on transnational aging of older migrants of different migration groupings in Australia, which indicate an intensified sense of belonging linked to the country of origin. The case studies also reveal a shift in the “we-I-balance”, towards the interpretation of the own life in the more collective context of the family and the social support networks linked to the country of origin. Elderly migrants thus seem to experience another re-interpretation of the life history and a shift in the sense of belonging in the process of aging and in the increased dependence on care provided by the family. This paper will shed light on a so far little researched topic of the sense of belonging of elderly migrants, as migration and transnationalism research tended to focus on labour migration and the belonging of younger adults and middle-aged migrants.