Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Narrative positioning and ‘integration’ in lifestyle migration
T2 - British migrants in Ariège, France
AU - Lawson, Michelle
N1 - Author no longer at Lancaster
PY - 2017/1
Y1 - 2017/1
N2 - This paper explores the concept of integration within lifestyle migration, with a focus on British adults living in south-west France. Studies of lifestyle migration, viewed as a deliberate and relatively privileged search for a new life abroad, commonly refer to the theme of integration as an obsession among migrants, with the British in particular at pains to distinguish themselves from those who do not integrate. While studies generally approach the concept from the researcher’s perspective, it is appropriate to make a detailed investigation of how migrants themselves understand it. In this study I show how data from interviews carried out with British people living in the Ariège département can be analysed using a narrative positioning framework to illustrate how migrants themselves appropriate the concept of integration as a strategy for positive self-identification. The study extends our understanding not only of self-positioning within intercultural contexts, but also how local narrative work within the social context of lifestyle migration is situated within a broader moral landscape.
AB - This paper explores the concept of integration within lifestyle migration, with a focus on British adults living in south-west France. Studies of lifestyle migration, viewed as a deliberate and relatively privileged search for a new life abroad, commonly refer to the theme of integration as an obsession among migrants, with the British in particular at pains to distinguish themselves from those who do not integrate. While studies generally approach the concept from the researcher’s perspective, it is appropriate to make a detailed investigation of how migrants themselves understand it. In this study I show how data from interviews carried out with British people living in the Ariège département can be analysed using a narrative positioning framework to illustrate how migrants themselves appropriate the concept of integration as a strategy for positive self-identification. The study extends our understanding not only of self-positioning within intercultural contexts, but also how local narrative work within the social context of lifestyle migration is situated within a broader moral landscape.
KW - Liifestyle migration
KW - narrative positioning
KW - integration
KW - identity
KW - British expats
KW - discursive strategies
KW - ideologies
U2 - 10.1080/14708477.2016.1165242
DO - 10.1080/14708477.2016.1165242
M3 - Journal article
VL - 17
SP - 58
EP - 75
JO - Language and Intercultural Communication
JF - Language and Intercultural Communication
SN - 1470-8477
IS - 1
ER -