The homeless mind in a mobile world: An autoethnographic approach on cognitive immobility in international migration

Abstract

The migration phenomenon, in which the mind travels ahead of the body, especially among would-be travellers, has received scholarly attention within migration studies. Research in this area has not unpacked the cognitive migration experiences of those who have already moved. This autoethnographic article explores the feelings, thoughts and experiences of an individual living abroad in the United Kingdom but cognitively imprisoned at his ancestral home in Igbo land. It draws on the concept of cognitive migration and the author’s own experiences and feelings to introduce and explain the phenomenon of cognitive immobility, which exemplifies the dialectical conflict between the aspirations of longing for and emotions of belonging to a place against a simultaneous desire to remain distant from it. This article advocates the recognition of this cognitive experience of being trapped in place while mobilised in-person elsewhere in migration studies, providing a lens to view such experiences that have erstwhile received inadequate attention. This article contributes to the growing body of knowledge in relation to cognitive migration processes and experiences of those contemplating or participating in human mobility.