Kevin E. McHugh

Inside, outside, upside down, backward, forward, round and round: a case for ethnographic studies in migration

This article calls attention to the potential of ethnographic studies in furthering our understanding of migration and circulation systems. The dominant conceptualization of migration and migrant adjustment as a one-way journey is inadequate, as many individuals and groups forge connections and social fields across expanses of space and time. There has been insufficient attention directed toward understanding migrations as cultural events rich in meaning for individuals, families, social groups, communities and nations. Three recent ethnographic studies of disparate migrant groups in North America are presented as exemplars. A careful reading and interpretation of each brings to light key ideas in migration and culture, culminating in four overarching themes that serve as prolegomena for a research agenda in migration and postmodernity: dislodgement from place, entrainment in migrant cultures, the ambivalence of migration, and identity construction and change.

Three faces of ageism: society, image and place

This paper elucidates and champions a spatiality perspective in social gerontology, by arguing that relationships between older people and the spaces and places they inhabit illuminate deeply-ingrained societal attitudes and values. The trilogy of society, image and place is explored through an interpretive reading of images and scripts in ‘successful ageing’ and ‘anti-ageing’ created and promoted by the booming ‘retirement industry’ in the United States. Six tropes are revealed in an interpretation of prevalent images of ‘Sunbelt Retirement Land’: geographic cornucopia, ageless selves, near perfection, the right stuff, down home living, and nomads of desire. This reading serves as a springboard in elaborating Coles (1992) notion of bipolar ageism, as we vacillate between negative stereotypes of old age and positive elixirs, such as anti-ageing and agelessness, that are cloaked denials of decline, disease and death. The paper concludes with a series of troubling questions about the perpetuation and depth of ageism in society and culture. Every present day is determined by the images that are synchronic with it: each ‘now’ is the now of a particular recognizability. (Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, 1999: 462–63)

The “ageless self”? Emplacement of identities in sun belt retirement communities

Abstract In this article, I critique the concept of the “ageless self” and illuminate its expression as a potent societal script in “successful” aging. The ageless self plays nicely into the prolongation of midlife as the leitmotif of contemporary society, conveying little about change and what it means to grow old. Nowhere is the image of the ageless self more apparent (transparent) than in the emplacement of identities in Sun Belt retirement communities. The Arizona Office of Senior Living works in partnership with private industry in promoting and marketing Arizona as a place where active affluent “seniors” live in a blissful and perpetual state of mature adulthood. My principal argument is that place-based images of aging are mold and mirror of deeply embedded ageist attitudes and societal values. I call for multiple epistemologies in exploring the spatiality of aging and in forging a geographically informed critical gerontology.

Determinants of short- and long-term mobility expectations for home owners and renters.

Confusion about the role of residential satisfaction vis-a-vis structural factors in the mobility process stems from the failure to examine the determinants of mobility over varying time frames and housing tenures. Using survey data for a random sample of 580 Phoenix-area households, we test models of short-term (l year) and long-term (5 years) mobility expectations for home owners and renters. The results show that residential satisfaction mediates the effects of structural variables on mobility expectations in the short term for home owners. In the long-term model for home owners and the short-term model for renters, the role of satisfaction as an intervening force declines in relative importance. Among renters, structural variables operate directly on long-term mobility expectations.

Seasonal Migration as a Substitute for, or Precursor to, Permanent Migration:

Seasonal migration to national amenity areas is a major form of cyclical migration in the United States. This article examines conditions under which seasonal movement serves as a substitute for, or precursor to, permanent migration among winter visitors to recreational vehicle (RV) parks in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Ties to the home community, ties to the seasonal residence, demographic characteristics, and commitment to a mobile lifestyle are specified as determinants of expectations of moving to Phoenix on a permanent basis. The model is tested using survey data for a sample of 1,001 winter visitors in Phoenix RV parks. Results of a discriminant analysis indicate that place ties and position in the life cycle condition expectations of permanently migrating to a seasonal residence.

The Spatial Configuration of Travel to Yellowstone National Park

While vacation travel to Yellowstone National Park may be considered the epitome of American travel traditions, measurement and analysis of this important national phe nomenon is surprisingly limited. This survey of 600 Yellowstone visitors focuses upon the spatial pattern of their travel movements to and from Yellowstone. Four types of trip configurations are discovered: Direct Route, Partial Orbit, Full Orbit, and Fly/Drive.

Black migration reversal in the United States.

After almost a century of net out-migration of blacks from the South to other regions the South experienced a net in-migration of blacks during the 1970s a trend that continues in the 1980s. This study examines this reversal at a regional and subregional scale by examining black interstate migration flows. The majority of southern states experienced the black migration reversal during the 1970s. Only the District of Columbia Alabama Mississippi Arkansas and Louisiana recorded net out-migration by blacks 1975-1980. Thus net migration trends at the state level demonstrate that the black migration reversal is occurring throughout the South and the North although its magnitude varies by state. This study examines 2 periods of channelized black migration streams to and from southern states: 1965-1970 and 1975-1980. The author uses transaction-flow analysis to isolate salient movements of blacks between southern and nonsouthern states. Salient flows are identified by comparing the actual flow black migrants between each pair of states to the expected flow based on an indifference model. Results show that 1) channelized flows from the South have strong geographical patterns and 2) the number of salient streams from the South to the Northeast declined significantly between 1965-1970 and 1975-1980. In the late 1960s only 10 counterstreams had sufficient importance to register as salient flows in the black interstate migration system. By the late 1970s the number of southward salient streams had risen to 21. Of the estimated 171176 blacks who migrated to the South between 1965-1970 74735 or 43.7% were returning. Between 1975 and 1980 the figures were 142360 of 438760 moving blacks or 32.4%. New York represented the most important source of southward net in-migration in the 1970s. At the regional level the southern shift to net in-migration by blacks is attributable to social and economic forces that exert pushes and pulls in the migration system. At the subregional level the black migration reversal is occurring within channelized pathways that link specific southern and northern states.

On the Road Again: Seasonal Migration to a Sunbelt Metropolis.

Seasonal migration to Sunbelt locales in recreational vehicles (RVs) has emerged as a major form of cyclical movement among Americans and Canadians. Using Phoenix, Arizona, as a case study, this paper addresses three questions. Who participates in this lifestyle? What are their geographical and temporal patterns of migration? What are the distinguishing characteristics of RV resort communities? Results highlight that older Americans and Canadians are defining new lifestyles and forms of retirement living based on seasonal movement in RVs.

Determinants of Black Interstate Migration, 1965-70 and 1975-80

This paper presents and tests a regression-based model of black interstate migration. Explanatory variables include characteristics of origins and destinations, distance, and two migrant stock measures. The model is tested using black interstate migration flows published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for 1965–70 and 1975–80. Three findings stand out. Firstly, the stock measures are strong determinants of black migration. They tap behavioral processes that channelize black migration streams, including information flows through familial and social networks and return migration. Secondly, the migrant stock measures attenuate effects of other explanatory variables indicating that other variables influence current migration both directly and indirectly through the stock measures. Thirdly, changes in coefficients of explanatory variables between the two periods reflect shifts in black migration patterns that occurred during the 1970s.

Metropolitan Areas as Redistributors of Population.

It is argued that the spatial patterns of place-ties collectively held by potential metropolitan-to-nonmetropolitan migrants are broader than those held by potential nonmetropol itan-to-metropol itan migrants. Consistent with this argu ment, it is hypothesized that metropolitan migration fields are asymmetrical , i.e., out-migration fields are more cosmopolitan than in-migration fields for the period 1965-1 970 within the United States. The hypothesis is accepted generally, and the asymmetry is found to be greatest for the largest metropolitan areas, some of which were also experiencing net out-migration during the period. It is concluded that the micro-level concept of place-ties and the macro-level concept of migration fields are important inputs to the understanding of population redistribution patterns.