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Resettling amidst a mood of loneliness: later-life Chinese, Indian and Korean immigrants in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2019

Valerie A. Wright-St Clair Open the ORCID record for Valerie A. Wright-St Clair [Opens in a new window]  and
Shoba Nayar Open the ORCID record for Shoba Nayar [Opens in a new window]
Valerie A. Wright-St Clair*
Affiliation:
AUT Centre for Active Ageing, Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
Shoba Nayar
Affiliation:
Centre for Migrant and Refugee Research, Faculty of Health & Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author. Email: valerie.wright-stclair@aut.ac.nz
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Abstract

This project was a secondary hermeneutic analysis of text expressing loneliness or social isolation, gathered in an original study exploring how Chinese, Indian and Korean late-life immigrants participated in New Zealand society. It utilised the 24 interview recordings, initially transcribed in participants’ first languages from nine focus group and 15 individual interviews, and translated into English for analysis. Hermeneutic methods were used to extract and analyse quotes indicative of loneliness or social isolation. The data cohered into three notions: being unsettled, feeling sidelined and being oriented towards social connectedness. Being unsettled names the experiences of disconcerting loneliness or social isolation when previously familiar things, people and places were not there in the host society context. Feeling sidelined names the feelings of being put aside by others or feeling opaque with local communities. Being oriented towards social connectedness expresses these late-life immigrants’ longing to communicate with and to join with others in the community through culturally familiar engagements. A mood of loneliness coloured these late-life immigrants’ resettlement experiences in New Zealand. Yet they turned away from loneliness and sought out encounters with other older immigrants within co-ethnic communities.

Keywords

hermeneuticsolder adultslate-life immigrantslonelinesssocial isolation
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 40 , Issue 11 , November 2020 , pp. 2393 - 2409
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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