Deconstructing belonging in lifestyle migration: Tracking the emotional negotiations of the British in rural France

Abstract

This article examines the emotional negotiations that mark the lived experience of Britons residing in rural France – a paradigmatic case of lifestyle migration – to develop a nuanced understanding of how the lifestyle migrant subject is (re)constructed through migration and settlement. In contrast to presentations of these migrations – both by scholars and migrants themselves – as a freely chosen self-realization project, the lens on emotion and affect brings into sharp relief the ambivalence experienced by many of these migrants despite their apparent privilege. It highlights the value of moving beyond narratives of migration into lived experience; it stresses the importance of recognizing that even for the middle classes belonging is a project-in-progress rather than fait accompli; it promotes the idea of lifestyle migrants as translocal subjects, belonging further complicated by ongoing attachments to people and places elsewhere. Through these foci, the article brings together research on lifestyle migration with that on the middle classes and belonging.