Abstract
Most research on international retirement migration has focused on the Western context and the motivations and lifestyle choices of migrants when they are healthy. This paper instead explores how British retirees in Spain and Japanese retirees in Malaysia respond to declining health and increasing care needs through bricolage as they begin to ‘age in place’. The paper combines qualitative interviews, focus groups and observations collected by the authors from 215 British and Japanese international retirement migrants. We focus on two key types of bricolage behaviour: ‘within-system bricolage’ undertaken by migrants to help them access and navigate existing health and care systems; and ‘added-to-system bricolage’ that is enacted to fill gaps in health and care provision. Our analysis suggests that IRMs engage in ‘transnational care bricolage’ by combining multiple economic, social and legal resources across local and transnational spaces to address their health and care needs.
Highlights
Most international retirement migration (IRM) research has focused on the Western context and much of this has explored the motivations, lifestyle choices and social networks of ‘third-age’ migrants when they are healthy and mobile
The IRMs in our studies were found to engage in two key types of bricolage behaviour that are explained in the findings that follow
‘Within-system’ bricolage For British and Japanese nationals, public healthcare systems are the normative approach to addressing a healthcare need; in Spain and Malaysia, public healthcare systems were not universally available and accessible to the IRMs
Summary
Most international retirement migration (IRM) research has focused on the Western context and much of this has explored the motivations, lifestyle choices and social networks of ‘third-age’ migrants when they are healthy and mobile. We provide an original comparison of British and Japanese IRMs. Whilst seemingly different cultural and structural contexts, British retirees in Spain and Japanese retirees in Malaysia share many common characteristics and face similar challenges. Whilst seemingly different cultural and structural contexts, British retirees in Spain and Japanese retirees in Malaysia share many common characteristics and face similar challenges Both groups of IRMs undertake ‘lifestyle’ migration as a means to a better quality of life in older age (Benson and O'Reilly 2009). IRMs maintain transnational ties with the homeland that can be used instrumentally for care and support (Hall and Hardill 2016; Ono 2018). We draw on qualitative research in Spain and Malaysia to explore how local and transnational resources are crucial to support life when migrants age away from the more established support systems of the homeland
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