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Imaginaries of North American lifestyle migrants in Costa Rica
Author(s) -
Morrissey Marietta
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.2168
Subject(s) - politics , refugee , population , gender studies , adaptation (eye) , sociology , geography , political science , demography , psychology , law , archaeology , neuroscience
The world is currently experiencing an unprecedented wave of migration. Much scholarly and popular attention has been paid to refugees and migrants crossing borders for political and economic reasons. Of increasing interest to investigators is “lifestyle migration,” the movement of individuals from economically advantaged settings in search of improved quality of life. Costa Rica has a relatively large and fluid population of “lifestyle migrants” from the United States and Canada. This paper examines their generalised images and understandings of Costa Rica that combined with personal ones are referred to as imaginaries in the scholarly literature. I consider in particular how these imaginaries are expressed in the publicly available blogs, discussion forums, and Facebook posts of North American lifestyle migrants. Three critical points in the migrant experience are examined: preparation and arrival, the adaptation process, and reconciliation with a new cultural setting or departure.