Return visits and other return mobilities

Abstract

This chapter provides a state-of-the-art overview of migrants' return visits and associated 'to and fro' mobilities. It traces the notion of return visits and analyses the emergent body of interdisciplinary literature on such movements in different geopolitical contexts. A definition and an updated typology of visits is also offered. Short-term visiting mobilities are temporally enfolded within longer-term migrations and relocations. Visits are fundamental to migrants' transnational way of being. The rhythm of movement, the journey between places and the pilgrim-like status are part of migrants' spatial self-identity. Visits allow the reaffirmation of a transnational identity by being both 'here' and 'there'. This process continues from one generation to another and often becomes a rite of passage. Experiences of visits also reveal unequal relationships and associated politics and tensions. The chapter concludes that our understanding of the migration phenomenon would be incomplete without a comprehensive understanding of the complex ways in which migrants maintain personal, familial and social ties to their home country through return visits.