Post-return emotions: everyday food practices of overseas returned students in Shanghai

Abstract

ABSTRACT Taking post-return everyday food practices as the primary analytical lens, this paper interrogates how the emotions of transnational returnees are structured by shifting spatio-temporalities in the process of return. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Shanghai, the empirical discussion examines the experiences of overseas returned students in Shanghai through three cases. These respectively highlight how practices and emotions relate to the persistence of hometown tastes throughout migration, the embrace of host foods while studying overseas, and the adaptation to new dietary patterns after return. These cases of post-return exemplify the intricate connections between food, place, and emotions. There are two implications drawn from the empirical discussion. First, from the spatial perspective, the post-return emotions of transnational return migrants are intricately linked not only to the place to which they return and currently reside in but also to the places they previously experienced as emigrants. Second, the emotions of transnational return migrants should be comprehended under specific temporal frameworks, which, in this paper, refer to transitional life stages. By investigating the post-return place-related emotions indicated by everyday food practices, this research contributes a more intricate understanding of the emotional worlds of transnational returnees and sheds light on the emotionality of transnational return migration.