Starting a new life in the South? Swiss, Dutch and Flemish ageing in Morocco: a lifecourse perspective

Claudio Bolzman,Danique Van Dalen,Tineke Fokkema,Ibrahima Guissé

doi:10.1017/s0144686x20001804

Abstract

AbstractThis article focuses on European migrants living in Morocco and now near retirement or retired. Using a lifecourse approach we are interested in whether their timing of migration to Morocco made a difference in terms of their motivations to settle there and subsequently with the social relationships at the destination. To this end, we conducted 36 biographical interviews with Swiss, Dutch and Belgian Flemish migrants aged 50 and older. Findings show the relevance of a lifecourse perspective for international migration studies. Early adulthood migrants to Morocco had no strong obligations in their home country and were ready to explore new affective or professional experiences in a new country. They had the time to discover and find a place in Moroccan society and to develop long-lasting social relationships with kin and non-kin. Middle-adulthood migrants moved with the intention of rapidly accessing a higher standard of living thanks to the tourism economy, with hedonistic perspectives in a setting with a better climate. Their social life is limited to interaction with business clients and a few like-minded migrants from Europe, and their communication with personnel is a daily challenge. Most late-in-life migrants experienced disruptive life events before migrating, and expected to find in Morocco a second chance to build a better life. They generally move in select circles of European expatriates.

Highlights

Migration of Europeans to Morocco is a new yet growing phenomenon that deserves more scholarly attention
While Morocco is a new geographical frontier for all of these persons who are 50 or older, they arrived at this destination at different moments in their lives: some of them migrated in early adulthood, some in middle adulthood and others late in life, just before or after retirement
We distinguish three groups among the interviewees: early adulthood, middle-adulthood and late-in-life migrants to Morocco

Summary

Introduction

Migration of Europeans to Morocco is a new yet growing phenomenon that deserves more scholarly attention. Library Erasmus University Rotterdam, on 09 Jan 2021 at 14:32:41, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. While Morocco is a new geographical frontier for all of these persons who are 50 or older, they arrived at this destination at different moments in their lives: some of them migrated in early adulthood, some in middle adulthood and others late in life, just before or after retirement. In a broad sense they are all international near-retirement or retired migrants (INRRM), while late-in-life migrants are part of the phenomenon of international retirement migration.

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