Stories of lifestyle mobility

Representing Self and Place in the Search for the 'Good Life

Bibliographic Data

ID3977620
AuthorsUlrika Åkerlund (0000-0001-5574-8962, Umeå University), Linda Sandberg (0000-0002-4702-6086)
Year2015
Volume16
Issue3
Pages351-370
Publication date2015-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2014.987806
OpenAlexW2126710598
LanguageEN
Citations received45
References cited46

In recent decades, mobility researchers have paid increasing attention to the flows of relatively privileged individuals whose mobility practices are largely understood to be lifestyle-motivated, consumption-led and tourism-induced (e.g. Benson, M., & O'Reilly, K. (Eds.). (2009). Lifestyle migration: Expectations, aspirations and experiences. Surrey: Ashgate; King, R., Warnes, A. M., & Williams, A. M. (2000). Sunset lives: British retirement migration to the Mediterranean. Oxford: Berg). Situated within the context of lifestyle mobilities, this paper aims to analyse the significance of place and representations of place in the movers' stories of mobility. The mobility experiences of Swedish retirees practicing routinised and seasonal mobility between Sweden and Malta have been analysed, and this paper explores how they actively give meaning to their choices and decisions. In their narratives, the movers express their representations of themselves in relation not only to their imaginings of places and to their belongings to and engagements with these places, but also to their mobility practices. The findings contribute to a discussion of how place imaginaries and self-identities are constructed through lifestyle mobility practices

Aesthetics · Art · Epistemology · Sociology · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Spatial and Cultural Studies · Urban Transport and Accessibility

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