Memory, nostalgia and the creation of “home”: a returnee woman’s journey

Abstract

Migrants return “home” for various reasons that may not be necessarily linked to economic factors but rather to notions of identity and belongingness – “home is where the heart is” as that popular adage states. But when the “home” was once ravaged by war and conflict, how does one’s memory of years past define a returnee’s identity, when he/she returns at an advanced age? This paper looks at how older women migrants create their notions of “home” in relation to memory and nostalgia, as well as gender, by looking at a particular case of an elderly woman who returned to her place of birth, after spending several decades in her husband’s country.