‘We love it here and there’: Turkish Alevi older migrants’ belonging to places

Abstract

This paper investigates belonging among Turkish Alevi older migrants during their stays in the origin country. The few studies that cover belonging among older migrants primarily examined belonging within the confines of host countries. As substantial amounts of time are spent in origin countries, migrants’ life worlds are thus only partially studied. Furthermore, the importance of context for belonging is thereby insufficiently acknowledged. Antonsich’s (2010) framework inspires this investigation, distinguishing place-belongingness and politics of belonging. Based on observations and 21 interviews with older Alevi migrants in Turkey, we show that the autobiographic story is particularly useful to study older migrants’ belonging, that minority identity shapes belonging, and that the location of the interview matters for the types of narratives collected. This study thereby adds to literature on belonging among older migrant populations, to understanding of the complementary nature of place-belongingness and politics of belonging, and to scholarly acknowledgement of the importance of context for belonging.