THE CONTEXT AND TRAJECTORY OF LIFESTYLE MIGRATION

Abstract

This article focuses on British migration to the Lot, a rural, inland department in the southwest of France. It first emphasizes the diversity among these lifestyle migrants by proposing a typology based on the position migrants occupy in the life course at the time of migration, identifying three different types of Britons living permanently in rural France: the family migrants, retirement migrants, and mid-life migrants. Each group of migrants hold in common their reasons for leaving Britain, the circumstances of their migration, and their position in the life course. The article then examines how the context of their lives before migration influences life in the Lot. In particular, it analyses the role of practical considerations in residential choice and degrees to which the migrants integrate into the local French population. By understanding the context of the migrants' lives before migration, certain aspects of their lives in the Lot are illuminated, helping to fragment stereotypes of expatriate populations and challenge the dominance of retirement migration within related literature.