Retirement Home? Ageing Migrant Workers in France and the Question of Return

217 Pages·2018·5.268 MB·English

by  Alistair Hunter

IMISCOE Research Series
Alistair Hunter
Retirement Home?
Ageing Migrant
Workers in France
and the Question
of Return
IMISCOE Research Series
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Alistair Hunter
Retirement Home?
Ageing Migrant Workers
in France and the Question
of Return
Alistair Hunter
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, UK
ISSN 2364-4087 ISSN 2364-4095 (electronic)
IMISCOE Research Series
ISBN 978-3-319-64975-7 ISBN 978-3-319-64976-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64976-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017952369
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In memory of my migrant grandmothers,
Jean and Lorna,
and my grandfathers, Sam and Tom.
Acknowledgements
I could not have completed this book without the support and goodwill of so many
others.
Above all I owe a debt of gratitude to the men who received me in the hostels.
Their wisdom, forbearance and generosity frequently overwhelmed me. In particu-
lar, I would like to thank the following individuals for welcoming me into their lives
and families: Ali, Djiby, Cheikhou, Ahmed, Demba, Idrissa, Yamadou and Yakhouba.
I will never forget these moments and can only hope that what I have written has
done justice to their experiences.
Many other individuals – not living in hostels but with a professional and human-
itarian commitment to those who do – generously gave their time, advice and exper-
tise. Above all I am indebted to Didier, Clarinda, Anne and Muriel at Adoma; Rémi
Gallou and colleagues at the Unité de Recherche sur le vieillissement (CNAV);
Gilles Desrumaux at Unafo; Françoise Bitatsi-Trachet at Migrations Santé; Ali El
Baz (GISTI/ATMF); Benjamin Do at Action, Formation, Insertion; Stéphanie at
CATRED; Hamid Salmi; and Alliatte Chiahou (ATMF).
Completing this book was my apprenticeship in the craft of social science
research and writing. I recognise how lucky I am to have benefited from the guid-
ance of two inspirational mentors at the University of Edinburgh, Christina Boswell
and Richard Freeman. In revising the manuscript, I am also extremely grateful to
Anoeshka Gehring, Audrey Lenoël, Carolin Fischer, Eva Soom Ammann and Tim
Peace for their perceptive comments on draft chapters. As ever, responsibility for
what is written herein lies with me alone.
The research could not have proceeded without the generous financial support
and training provided by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. I am
very grateful to the IMISCOE Research Network for facilitating open-access publi-
cation and to the Award Committee of the IMISCOE Maria Ioannis Baganha
Dissertation Award. Special thanks go to the anonymous reviewer and to Warda
Belabas at IMISCOE for liaising with my wonderful editors at Springer, Evelien
Bakker and Bernadette Deelen-Mans.
Finally, I could not have completed this work without the constant love and
encouragement of my parents Noreen and Michael and my wife Catherine. Bisous!
vii
Contents
1 Journey’s End? Old Age in France’s Migrant Worker Hostels ............ 1
1.1 P ost-war Migrants to Western Europe: Settling
into Old Age ...................................................................................... 4
1.2 F rance’s Migrant Worker Hostels and the Question
of Late-in-Life Return ........................................................................ 7
1.3 Purpose, Title and Structure of the Book ........................................... 19
References ................................................................................................... 24
2 Points of Departure: Geographical, Historical
and Theoretical Contexts.......................................................................... 29
2.1 Contexts of Emigration ...................................................................... 29
2.2 The Three Ages of the Hostels:
Sonacotral—Sonacotra—Adoma ...................................................... 34
2.3 Theories of Migration and Return ..................................................... 42
2.4 Methods at the Margins ..................................................................... 48
References ................................................................................................... 55
3 Your Papers, Please: The Temporal and Territorial
Demands of Welfare State Inclusion ....................................................... 61
3.1 T imetabled Lives at Retirement ......................................................... 63
3.2 M igration, the Welfare State, and Non-standard Biographies ........... 66
3.3 S uspect Mobility, Enforcement and Tactics of Evasion .................... 73
3.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 78
References ................................................................................................... 80
4 Home/Sick: The Health–Migration Order ............................................. 83
4.1 H ealth and Mobility in Later Life ...................................................... 85
4.2 I nclusion in the French Healthcare System ....................................... 89
4.3 N on-standard Biographies Impede Healthcare .................................. 92
4.4 H ealthcare Provision in Countries of Origin ..................................... 97
4.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 100
References ................................................................................................... 102
ix
x Contents
5 Return to Sender: Remittances, Communication
and Family Conflict .................................................................................. 105
5.1 Breadwinner Migrants: Remittance Sending
as a Way of Life ................................................................................. 106
5.2 Continued Dependency on Remittances Past Retirement .................. 111
5.3 Gender, Generation and Conflict in Transnational Families .............. 114
5.4 C ommunication Technologies: Impeding
Not Empowering Return .................................................................... 116
5.5 C onclusion ......................................................................................... 123
References ................................................................................................... 125
6 Getting One’s Bearings: Re-integration
in the Home Community .......................................................................... 129
6.1 Sketches of Dembancané (Senegal) and Tiznit (Morocco) ............... 130
6.2 Physical Bearings: Constructing a Place to Return to ....................... 135
6.3 R e-integration and the Role of Hometown Associations ................... 139
6.4 Social Bearings: Negotiations of Status and ‘Mentality’................... 148
6.5 C onclusion ......................................................................................... 151
References ................................................................................................... 153
7 Loss of Autonomy, Dying and the Penultimate Voyage ......................... 157
7.1 R eturning Home: The Penultimate Voyage........................................ 159
7.2 Staying in the Hostel: Home Care ..................................................... 161
7.3 L ate-in-life Family Reunification ...................................................... 166
7.4 Moving to a Care Home: The Last Resort ......................................... 167
7.5 Last-Minute Returns and Posthumous Returns ................................. 171
7.6 C onclusion ......................................................................................... 175
References ................................................................................................... 176
8 Conclusion: The Returns from Theory
and a New Approach to Home ................................................................. 179
8.1 E xplaining the Puzzle: The Returns from Theory ............................. 181
8.2 A New Approach to Home: Domicile and Inclusion
in Social Systems ............................................................................... 187
8.3 Concluding Prospects: Steering for Home? ....................................... 190
References ................................................................................................... 196
Appendix: Notes on Method........................................................................... 199
Index ................................................................................................................. 207
Abbreviations
A&E Accident and Emergency (hospital department)
APA Aide personnalisée à l’autonomie (Personalised Aid for Autonomy)
APL Aide personnalisée au logement (social security housing benefit)
ASPA Allocation de solidarité aux personnes âgées (old-age income
support)
ATMF Association des travailleurs maghrébins de France (North African
Workers’ Association)
CAF Caisse d’allocations familiales (Family Benefits Fund)
CLIC Centre local d’information et de coordination gérontologique (local
coordination service for elder care)
CMU Couverture de maladie universelle (state-subsidised health insurance
scheme)
CMU-C Couverture de maladie universelle complémentaire (as above, covers
100% of costs)
CNAV Caisse nationale d’assurance vieillesse (National Old-Age Insurance
Fund)
EHPA Établissement d’hébergement pour personnes âgées (retirement
home)
EHPAD Établissement d’hébergement pour personnes âgées dépendantes
(nursing home)
FLN Front de libération nationale (Front for Algerian National Liberation)
GP General Practitioner (medical doctor who works in primary care; fam-
ily doctor)
ICT Information and Communications Technology
INSEE Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (National
Statistics and Economic Studies Institute)
NELM New Economics of Labour Migration
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
xi