Pragmatic Transnationalism: Sri Lankan-British Retired Migrants’ Negotiations of Transnational Citizenship and (Un)Belonging

Abstract

Scholarly work on transnational migration has attended to migrants’ notions of (un)belonging to their settled country, where experiences of discrimination motivate migrants to foster stronger connections with the natal country as a form of reactive and protective transnationalism. Less attention, however, is given to the ways in which migrants negotiate simultaneous exclusions and inclusions in relation to their natal and settled countries. I examine this crucial intersection through the case of retired British citizens who are first-generation, highly skilled Sri Lankan ethnic minority migrants. The article reveals how the migrants’ racial identity in the predominantly White United Kingdom and their ethnic minority status within Sri Lanka undergird their transnational citizenship negotiations. The findings convey that the migrants adopt pragmatic forms of transnational practices and mobilities to maneuver the benefits and risks attached to their dual affiliations and align with their subjective notions of (un)belonging.