Narrative positioning and ‘integration’ in lifestyle migration: British migrants in Ariège, France

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of integration within lifestyle migration, with a focus on British adults living in south-west France. Studies of lifestyle migration, viewed as a deliberate and relatively privileged search for a new life abroad, commonly refer to the theme of integration as an obsession among migrants, with the British in particular at pains to distinguish themselves from those who do not integrate. While studies generally approach the concept from the researcher’s perspective, it is appropriate to make a detailed investigation of how migrants themselves understand it. In this study I show how data from interviews carried out with British people living in the Ariège département can be analysed using a narrative positioning framework to illustrate how migrants themselves appropriate the concept of integration as a strategy for positive self-identification. The study extends our understanding not only of self-positioning within intercultural contexts, but also how local narrative work within the social context of lifestyle migration is situated within a broader moral landscape.

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