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‘Gotta Go Visit Family’: Reconsidering the Relationship Between Tourism and Transnationalism

von Koppenfels, Amanda Klekowski, Mulholland, Jon, Ryan, Louise (2015) ‘Gotta Go Visit Family’: Reconsidering the Relationship Between Tourism and Transnationalism. Population, Space and Place, . ISSN 1544-8452. (doi:10.1002/psp.1916) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:44893)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1916

Abstract

A comparative examination of two groups of highly skilled Global North migrants – US citizens (Americans) in London, Berlin, and Paris and French citizens in London – this paper explores the nature of these migrants’ visits home, situating these visits between tourism and transnationalism. We question whether there has been a tendency to conceptualise visits home by migrants from the Global North as tourism and those from the Global South as transnational engagement. We found that our study participants’ visits home often incorporated visits to family, relaxation, tourism, and cultural transmission to children, suggesting there is not a clear distinction between tourism and transnationalism. At the same time, we noted a certain tension between transnationalism, here primarily familial obligations, and tourism, as migrants sought to balance a felt need to visit family and a desire to have some aspect of relaxation or tourism. Visits home also often necessitated negotiations of social relations

– often in both home and host countries. Finally, we noted a bidirectionality in visits: migrants visited home, but family and friends visited them as well, which also serves to maintain social connections with home, suggesting that the implications of this

bidirectionality for the nature of transnationalism are an area for future research.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1002/psp.1916
Uncontrolled keywords: transnationalism; tourism; return visits; bidirectionality; French migrants; American migrants
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels
Date Deposited: 19 Nov 2014 15:31 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 10:57 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/44893 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

von Koppenfels, Amanda Klekowski.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8322-3693
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