Abstract
Within the past two decades, scholars of migration are beginning to understand the importance of incorporating cultural dimensions into research concerning migration decision‐making practices. While it is recognised that economic, social and political factors are central in the formation of the desire to migrate, these factors alone are unable to explain the migratory decisions of many. However, although cultures of migration has emerged as the dominant approach for incorporating cultural facets of migration decision‐making, I suggest this approach does not offer a holistic exploration into the impacts of ‘culture’ due to its reluctance to fully engage with the importance of place. This paper outlines a geographical imaginations approach that is able to account for the complexities of culture and place on migration decision‐making, based on insights developed from interviews undertaken with Filipino nurses in the UK and in the Philippines. The approach is able to account for the impacts of culture and place on migration decision‐making in four main, interlinking ways. It is sensitive to the influence of geographical scales, to ideas of culture and place, to understandings of both home and away, and is able to account for non‐migration.
Highlights
Maddy ThompsonWithin the past two decades, scholars of migration are beginning to understand the importance of incorporating cultural dimensions into research concerning migration decision-making practices
The last two decades has witnessed an assertion that studies of migration decision-making require a reorientation to account for culture (Bal and Willems 2014; Teo 2003a 2003b)
Imaginations of culture, imaginations of places and imaginations of social, political and economic possibilities all impact the propensity to migrate. To account for these factors it is deemed necessary to explore migration decision-making within a geographical imaginations approach
Summary
Within the past two decades, scholars of migration are beginning to understand the importance of incorporating cultural dimensions into research concerning migration decision-making practices. Cultures of migration has emerged as the dominant approach for incorporating cultural facets of migration decision-making, I suggest this approach does not offer a holistic exploration into the impacts of ‘culture’ due to its reluctance to fully engage with the importance of place. This paper outlines a geographical imaginations approach that is able to account for the complexities of culture and place on migration decision-making, based on insights developed from interviews undertaken with Filipino nurses in the UK and in the Philippines. The approach is able to account for the impacts of culture and place on migration decision-making in four main, interlinking ways.
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