RETURN, REFLECTION AND RATIONALIZATIONS: GEOGRAPHIES OF CUMULATIVE INEQUALITY AMONG RETURNING RETIREMENT MIGRANTS FROM UNITED KINGDOM TO SRI LANKA

Abstract

This study draws attention to a less examined category of transnational retirement migrants, viz. skilled Sri Lankan immigrants in the United Kingdom who consider a return to their natal country for retirement. By integrating Ferraro et al.’s (2009) cumulative inequality theory and the notion of transnational citizenship as a hierarchical structure, the thesis argues that retired migrants continuously negotiate their citizenship entitlements in two countries to maximise the benefits and minimize the risks of their present circumstances. The study reveals how advantages and disadvantages attached to transnational citizenship statuses accumulate at multiple levels, and that individuals rationalise their past migration and citizenship manipulations to co-exist with the complications of maintaining dual affiliations and their transnational retirement lifestyles. The research broadens the understanding of ‘return’ in terms of directionality and intentionality, by delineating four ‘retirement migration as return’ trajectories that the retired migrants adopt at various points of their retirement.