Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy A Social Constructionist Lens Laura Machat-From Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 716 Faculty of Arts and Sciences Norrköping 2017 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science • No. 716 At the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organized in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies, mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. This thesis comes from the Division Ageing and Social Change (formerly National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life) at the Department of Social and Welfare Studies. Distributed by: Department of Social and Welfare Studies Linköping University SE-601 74 Norrköping Laura Machat-From Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy: A Social Constructionist Lens Edition 1:1 ISBN: 978-91-7685-515-7 ISSN 0282-9800 © Laura Machat-From, 2017 Printed in Sweden by: LiU-Tryck, Linköping ii ABSTRACT Identity research in relation to ethnicity and migration has tended to focus on younger people whilst identity research in relation to ageing and old(er) age has not focused on migrants. This inadvertent mutual neglect has led to a lack of identity research that examines the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy together, a lacuna that this dissertation aims to redress. This dissertation departs from a social constructionist understanding of identity as situationally accomplished in the interplay between how one defines oneself (internally) and how others define one (externally). The questions raised by this perspective and addressed in this dissertation are: When (in what situations) and in relation to whom do old(er) age and migrancy (respectively) seem to become meaningful for identification? How do the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy seem to be negotiated? The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with 24 older migrants (13 men, 11 women) aged between 55 and 79 who have been living in Sweden for 18 to 61 years. Interviewees come from 12 different countries that vary in perceived cultural distance from Sweden. The findings suggest that identifications with old(er) age and migrancy seem to be dynamic and flexible rather than necessarily permanently meaningful, thus gaining meaning in specific situations and in relation to particular Others. External definitions furthermore do not always seem to match with internal ones. Regardless of how old(er) age and migrancy are constructed, they seem to be negotiable. This dissertation thus contributes to identity research by studying old(er) age and migrancy together and furthermore sheds light onto how the social constructionist lens allows us to see variability where stability otherwise would be presumed. Keywords: identity, migrancy, old age, older migrants, social constructionism, ethnicity, ageing, identity categories, social positions, identity negotiation iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All those years working on this dissertation have been so much more than just writing the text you are about to read. They have been filled with doctoral courses, seminars, conference visits and other scholarly activities, to name but a few. All of these have shaped me and helped me grow as a scholar and there are many people who have been a part of this process. First of all I would like to thank all of the interviewees who took their time to meet with me and put up with all my questions. The one or two hours the interviews were supposed to take sometimes turned into three (or even more) and I am so glad and grateful that I got to hear all that you had to say. This dissertation could not have been written without your contributions. Thank you! I am not quite sure how to even start thanking my main advisor, Sandra Torres, who has enthusiastically supported my work from the very start. I could always turn to you with any question I had about all aspects of academia. All those times that our conversations about this dissertation left me even more puzzled than before were the ones that turned out to be the most rewarding. You always challenged me to think bigger and often times seemingly made things more complicated (you know exactly what I mean!), but it is with the challenges that we grow. Thank you for everything! Lars Andersson, my secondary advisor, thank you for reading my manuscript drafts and offering insightful comments and good advice whenever I sought it. My thanks also go to Emilia Forssell who was my secondary advisor during the early days. Ever since I started on this project, there have been many people at the National Institute for the Study of Ageing and Later Life (which recently changed its name to Division Ageing and Social Change) who in one way or another have influenced my academic work and learning experience. I would like to thank all of my present and former colleagues, both those who have moved on to other places and those who have joined us along the way (and of course the few of you who have been around all along). A very special thank you to my fellow PhD candidates, especially those of you who started at the same time. It was invaluable to have others beside me to share in the process of narrowing down the topics of our dissertations, taking numerous classes and navigating the academic world together. You made the experience so much more fun! I also want to thank the technical and administrative staff for all the help over the years. An invaluable experience and undeniably fun part of the past years has been my work as editorial assistant and book review editor of the International Journal of Ageing and Later Life (IJAL). I want to thank founding editor Lars Andersson for trusting me to take on these roles (already way before you became my secondary advisor), giving me insight into all aspects of the peer-review process and teaching me about how editors think. Thanks also to Peter Öberg for keeping me on, even though I unfortunately had to relinquish my duties in favour v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of (finally!) completing this dissertation. Thank you Joy Torgé for taking over and also for stepping in during my maternity leaves! Another invaluable part of this line of work over the years has been the opportunity of participating in international conferences. I would like to thank the funders who made my conference visits possible: FORTE, Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Jubileumsfond, the Nordic Gerontological Federation and Socialvårdsförbundets Samfonder. I would also like to thank those who took their time to read drafts of this dissertation along the way. At my 60% seminar, I received valuable comments from Gunhild Hammarström and Catrin Lundström that helped me clarify some of my arguments and also influenced the direction this work ultimately ended up taking. I especially want to thank both Jonas Stier and Suruchi Thapar-Björkert for their careful reading of my manuscript for the 90% seminar. I am very grateful for your constructive criticisms and especially for the enthusiasm with which both of you commented upon my work as it made it so much easier to keep marching on towards the finish line. I also want to thank Andreas Motel- Klingebiel for his reading both for the 90% seminar and once more just before this goes to print. There are some people who encouraged my academic work and had a very positive influence already before I started working towards my PhD. I would like to thank Mary Hilson and Annika Lindskog at University College London and Flip Lindo at the University of Amsterdam. Flip, the kind words you said about my academic work at my graduation are still with me until this day. It is also at this point I would like to thank my father. Your first reaction when I told you that I was going to do a PhD was that I should become a professor (no pressure!). Thank you for always encouraging and supporting my academic pursuits! Speaking of family, thank you Ulla and Christer, the best parents-in-law and grandparents one could wish for, for always taking such good care of us. Last but most certainly not least, I would like to thank my husband and my children. Johan, thank you for always being there for me and for being my pillar, my best friend and a true partner. Cornelius and Penny, thank you for always making sure that I do not lose sight of what’s really important in life. I love you more than you’ll ever know. Linköping, May 2017 Laura vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 1 AIMS AND QUESTIONS ............................................................................................... 4 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION ............................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 2: SETTING THE STAGE ..................................................7 HOW IS OLD(ER) AGE UNDERSTOOD IN THIS STUDY? ........................................... 7 Constructions of old(er) age and old(er) age identities ..................................... 8 HOW IS MIGRANCY UNDERSTOOD IN THIS STUDY? .............................................15 The construction of migrancy vis-à-vis Swedishness ..................................... 17 OLDER MIGRANTS IN SWEDEN ..............................................................................25 Demographic background .................................................................................... 26 The construction of the category of “elderly immigrants” in Sweden ......