Linking return visits and return migration among Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean migrants in Toronto

Bibliographic Data

ID4262897
AuthorsDavid Timothy Duval, Dominic Duval (0000-0001-6933-3354, University of Otago, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume4
Issue1
Pages51-67
Publication date2004-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1471-0374.2004.00080.x
OpenAlexW2158447893
LanguageEN
Citations received102
References cited52

In this article I explore a theoretical link between return visits and return migration using ethnographic data obtained through fieldwork among members of the broader Commonwealth Eastern Caribbean community in Toronto, Canada. Return visits are periodic but temporary sojourns made by members of migrant communities to their external homeland or another location where strong social ties exist. As a result, the conceptual framework in this article revolves around transnationalism as the return visit is shown to be a transnational exercise that may facilitate return. Using data from ethnographic fieldwork, three themes highlight the link between return visits and return migration: (1) the need to facilitate ties such that relationships are meaningful upon permanent return; (2) the functional nature of the return visit, such that changes are measured and benchmarked against what is remembered and internalized by the migration after the migration episode; and (3) the knowledge that return visits aid in reintegration

Commonwealth · Demographic economics · Economics · Ethnography · Homeland · Political science · Sociology · Transnationalism · Anthropology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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