Ageing in a foreign land: the experiences of older migrants to the UK

Transcription

1 Mr Br-ewe-nel Shaun in the City April 2015 Ageing in a foreign land: the experiences of older migrants to the UK Christina Victor, College of Health and Life Sciences, Christina.victor@brunel.ac.uk

2 Growing old in a foreign land: challenges for gerontology Examine 3 dimensions of the study of ageing migrants/minority elders:- Theoretical issues Methodological Issues Empirical Issues of terminology-in the UK we focus upon ethnicity (self defined and officially collected since 1991) rather than migrant status. Currently most (85%) of minority elders are migrants

3 Acknowledgements Data from which this talk is based from a range of studies and it is my pleasure to acknowledge the funders and my collaborators ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, National Institute for Social Care and Health Research Wales Prof Vanessa Burholt, Drs Christine Dobbs, Maria Zubair, Akile Ahmet, Wendy Martin and Subrata Saha EthnicFocus for fieldwork All errors are mine!

4 What is a migrant? For the British the image of a typical migrant is the Polish plumber; or the migrants from the new commonwealth-the Caribbean, India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. From an earlier era the images of migrants are dominated by the Irish navvy. In European predominantly young, mostly male, working-age foreigners who are economic migrants, guestworkers, or refugees.. London is the 6 th largest French city in terms of population..there are (roughly) 50,000 more Brits living in France than French living in Britain!

5 Older migrants: a neglected area of research? Over past half century gerontology has recognised the heterogeneity in the experience of ageing and later life in terms of age, class and gender but comparatively little interest in ageing migrants or those from minority communities. Scholars of race and ethnicity rarely interested in issues of age and scholars of age not always interested in ethnicity/migration

6 Older migrants: a neglected area of research? Migration effects older people in different ways Those left behind: orphan elders (Thailand- Knodel et al 2010) Those who migrate in later life (Cook older women to UK) Those who grow old in a foreign land (George et al 2012-Brits in NZ) Those who return to country of origin (?..)- the myth of return is a powerful narrative in the UK/European context

7 Migrant populations are dynamic... In Britain focus of work is around the ageing of our migrants who arrived in the period but the focus is ethnicity NOT migration per se. Visible minority communities but research agenda static-what about new migrants & how are they incorporated into research agendas?

8 Population aged 65+ England & Wales(% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

9 The triple jeopardy-norman 1987 People from particular ethnic groups face discrimination because they are old; that many will live in disadvantaged circumstances; and that they are likely to experience discrimination relating to their culture, skin colour or religious affiliation (Norman 1987) but ignored heterogeneity & variations across & within groups. Group Longstanding limiting illness (%) Male Chinese Black African Black C Bangladeshi Pakistani Indian Mixed White Irish White British Female

10 Issues of theory-ageing & Society May 2015 Koehn et al theoretical perspectives that incorporate race/ethnicity/culture are not well-developed in the ageing literature even today. Emphasise gerontologists reliance upon : single categories that hide the heterogeneity of ethnic groups methodologies that cannot address the inherent complexity of the inter-relationships between markers of differences like ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender and immigration status Torres (2015)move from the what of ethnicity (i.e. what ethnic backgrounds mean to different old age and ageing-related issues) to when and how of ethnicity (social constructionist perspective ) (i.e. under which circumstances and within which contexts these backgrounds are expected to mean something and how this is experienced). Link with intersectionality (Crenshaw 1989)

11 Issues of method Access: identifying & recruiting participants-642 contacts to recruit 151 Chinese participants to a survey Ethics and consent: formalised ethical requirements often at odds with the expectations and needs of participants (24 hours to provide consent). If I trust you and you trust me, why wait. I m telling you myself, I want to do it now, I dont need time to think Translation: Using translated transcripts as primary data-how to ensure comparability of concepts across multiple languages- Literal translation: My parents expired though I have an aunt in Nairobi. (Indian female, 57) Untranslatable terms My husband is in a nursing home (Bangldeshi female) or specific words I have seen people putting their parents in 'Vridhdhashram' (Care home for old people) (Indian male).

12 Issues of method Ethnic matching: to reduce power imbalance between researched & researcher- insider researchers but challenged by heterogeneity of populations (class, age & gender) and vulnerabilities around dress, presentation of self, negotiation of male spaces. Sameness can influence data collection: We Guajarati s tend to say that grandparents are more connected to their grandkids than their own son/daughter (Indian female, 69).

13 Challenge the taken for granted

14 Empirical challenges: What age are you? When people used to come from Pakistan earlier, they used to have their age increased. Marriages happened in younger ages.., they had their age written as more than actual. That's why. I got married at 16 years, so my age is written as more. (Latifah-53 year old Pakistani) female

15 What is (old) age? Age does not mean to me anything. It is a western sort of word. (M aged 53) Ageing means you are gradually getting towards end of your life. (M aged 54) I feel weak. If you over 60, anytime you will leave this world (M aged 60) Because you should realise there s a finite distance between your birth and end of your life and every day you [are] approaching that goal (death)( M aged 69) Ageing in a Foreign Land-plenary

16 The meaning of age? life becomes hard as people age not just emotionally and mentally but also socially. There are so many health problems and worries about depending on others. My problems include breathing problems and high blood pressure,..ageing makes me feel sad and scared. It is not something I look forward too. I feel like a child now and my children are the adults. It is very frightening (Pakistani female aged 50)

17 Age and gender norms; dress & behaviour As I am now an aged person, I have to wear different types of dresses matching with my age (F aged 50) I buy clothes that are appropriate to wear for my age also I am aware that I should behave as people expect from a murubbi (elder) in our culture. (F aged 60). What would the neighbours think if I was walking in the street? (F aged 58) if you are walking with someone good, they say that she is also good. If you walk with someone bad they say that she is also bad. interviewer: You go out walking by yourself? Not by myself but with my mother-in-law, my daughterin-law goes too and I go too, there are other Bengali s that go too.

18 Planning for old age? I don t worry because what I believe is, the time is fixed [i.e. the time to die] from Him. When it comes, He won t wait for nothing. So, as far as I have to live, I ll live. This is what even in my holy book says, the God has fixed the age. You will die at a certain age. He don t reduce, he don t [er] increase, so I think these things we should leave it to God. My plan is that I have my children; my children will look after me, I can see the way they are, their nature, they will look after me.

19 Should I stay or should I go? the plan that they [i.e. the Pakistani community in the UK] had that we call the children, call the wives here. So having called them, we were no longer belonging to anywhere [i.e3. belonging neither to Pakistan nor to the UK]. Then we have become one of those from here. There to Pakistan you only go as a guest. The country that is ours there we are only guest actors only go there for a few weeks My future plan is that when my children will grow up, I will leave for Bangladesh. I want to be settled there.

20 Transnational relationships: the expected & unexpected my husband went to Bangladesh a couple of months ago for his niece s wedding. I did not go because two people s flight fare costs a lot. Again last year we went together to Bangladesh for three months (BF07) brothers and 1 sister live in Canada and 2 brothers and 2 sisters live in Bangladesh (BF02) My eldest son lives in Belgium (BM06)

21 Adapting to the new land? But [er] one thing I made certain, I realise in this country that if I need family united or if I want respect from my children, it s better to let them live on their own. So all my children are living on their own. They - they - they all live in separate houses. And they even - I told them - I said Well, no. They said to me that We want to live with you, you re old. I said, No son, you live your place, I live my place. This way we will be better off, and we will have good relation then.

22 Loneliness and minority elders Yes, when I think about my grandsons, I feel lonely sometimes. I wish they could live with us so I could be able to know them better. I wish I could have done more for them. They would see my death whenever I look at other people, I thank Allah (God) that I do all my housework myself - do gardening, look after the grandchildren - both daughters and son s. If someone is not able to do all this, then they will feel so lonely I feel old. Since I have had an operation I feel my age. I can not move. I have arthritis, diabetes. I feel lonely I may feel a bit lonely now. I had 3 sons and 4 daughters. When we lived together I really liked it but now they are all settled

23 Loneliness: a western problem? I have never thought this in Bangladesh. Generally old people in Bangladesh do not suffer from loneliness as family members and neighbours in Bangladesh society support them --- There are many people to support them --- I do not know what will happen to me --- I sometimes suffer from anxiety due to this thing and I also sometimes get fear when I think I have to live lonely. (Angela, Bangladeshi female,45 years) As per social norms, old people are well-respected in Bangladesh --- If anyone does not respect them properly, it is socially considered as bad. I think old age is not good here --- People become lonely --- So I sometimes think of it. Since I have come to this society and my children will maintain social norms of this country, they will leave after when they will be matured. Then I have to build up my own life. (Bangladeshi female,45 yrs)

24 Talking about loneliness-arrival in the UK I feel very comfortable to live here. Now I do not have any problem with weather. I do not feel so much lonely.. When I first came here, in the beginning it felt really bad here. It felt really bad because I had no one here, I am all alone and on top of that I do not understand the language. These are the kinds of problems that I had to face, then slowly as they days went by I became busy with the children, doing work after that it automatically got better. It felt because I did not have anyone here, I was all alone and also that everyone that I knew was in Bangladesh. It was really cold, I always wanted to go back home.

25 Self reported loneliness

26 Loneliness for those aged 45+ India and England & Wales Always/often Sometimes Never 20 0 LASI-Q1 LASI-Q2 Migrants

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