The (Im)Material Home: Exploring Older Migrants’ Home Experiences Situated within Material and Immaterial Settings of Home. An Exploratory Study in Belgium

The older population is diversifying. Extensive research has shown the preference of older adults to age in place. Recent research shows that older migrants also prefer to age in place. However, not much is known about their reasons for doing so. Therefore, this paper focuses on older migrants who are ageing in placee and explores their home experiences both in the material and immaterial setting of home. In-depth interviews using photo-elicitation with older migrants (n = 23) from Limburg, Belgium were conducted. The results depart from older migrants’ strong wish to age in place, which can be explained by the sense of familiarity the long-inhabited dwelling and neighbourhood provide, which concerns both a material and immaterial setting. However, the material setting of home can become a threat to ageing in place, as the interviews reveal, through physical obstacles and housing maintenance. Furthermore, the immaterial setting of home also comes into play as participants referred to their ethnic identity in discussing home experiences. The results further discuss the interrelatedness of material and immaterial settings of home. Interestingly, migration background did not always appear as relevant variable in older migrants home experiences. Instead, participants’ interviews were more often imbued with age-related narratives. This shows the shifting influence of diverse variables (e.g. age, migration, gender), highlighting the importance of adopting an intersectional lens. Moreover, the results point to the dynamic nature of participants’ sense of home, both in terms of ‘age’ (e.g. changing needs) and ‘migration’ (e.g. changing ethnic identity).