Transnational Ageing, Intergenerational Family Ties and the Social Embedding of Older Italian Migrants in Australia

Abstract

There is limited analysis of how migration has affected the experience of ageing and intergenerational relationships within transnational families. Older people are often portrayed as constrained to their geographically close support networks. Drawing on biographical, ethnographic and network analytical case studies of older Italian migrants in Perth, Australia, this chapter explores ageing and care within migrant families. The chapter traces relational networking of two elderly women who migrated from Italy to Australia five decades before, tracking the outreach of their social network and how information and communication technologies facilitated maintenance of contact with relatives in their home country. The presented case studies show a disembedding from the local neighbourhood through decreased physical mobility and the move to an aged care home and an intensified orientation towards the collective context of the family and a belonging linked to the country of origin. Furthermore, imaginary and virtual forms of mobility compensated for loss of physical mobility in old age. The research findings challenge the prevailing perception of older people as immobile, passive recipients of care and call for a transnational and life history perspective in the analysis of older migrants’ social embedding.