Return to Paradise: Understanding the Movement from Emigration to Immigration in the Azores Islands

Abstract

An increase in the movement of people across nation borders is a profound result of globalization. With access to information at our fingertips, people can research and entertain alternative ways of living and the places which would welcome them. It is a privilege to have a choice on where to build an idealized life – a choice not afforded to everyone – and migration is the pathway. The question is how are these migration decisions made? Based on the arguments presented by international relation theories, the decision to migrate is an economic and/or political decision. Security, found in the form of money, employment, and political alignment, drives voluntary migration to those destinations offering the best “deal”. However, the recent increase in immigration to a small Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean tells a different story. In 2019, the rate of immigration to the Autonomous Region of the Azores was higher than the rate of emigration out for the first time in over 100 years. With a well-documented history of waves of emigration from the Azores to the Americas and Western Europe for most of the 20th and 21st centuries, this phenomenon challenges traditional theories on migration and offers an opportunity to research and build a profile of these island-bound migrants. This thesis argues that macro-level international relations theories, such as economic or political theories, are not enough to explain this movement of migration. Immigration theory needs to be an interdisciplinary approach. The inclusion of meso and micro theories deriving from anthropology, sociology and even psychology, are needed to understand unconventional patterns of immigration. For this study, open-ended interviews were conducted with 44 individuals who had migrated between 2006 and 2019, aged 18 and older, excluding refugees and those who had been repatriated back to the Azores. The interviews focused on the decision-making process of immigration, encouraging each interviewee to tell the narrative of their Azorean journey in their own words. The results of the interviews and publicly available immigration data are first analyzed through the lens of certain macro-level push and pull factors believed to affect decision-making, such as financial opportunity, politics, and safety. Second, sociological and anthropological theories concerning self-actualization, identity creation, and culture, are discussed to analyze the deeply, personal and almost romantic accounts given by interviewees. Contemporary theories on ‘lifestyle migration’ are included as a framework to understand the increase of affluent migrants who left more industrialized nations for the serenity and simplicity of rural, island life. In addition to lifestyle migration, the returning of emigrants to the Azores Islands by those who left as adults or as children is a movement that has only just begun to be uncovered. The importance of transnational networks, tourism, social media, culture, and family are explored in the light of interviews with “returnees”, including even second and third generation Azoreans. Reflecting on the theories discussed in this study, it is critical to consider not only how the upward trend of migration can be maintained but also the consequences of increased migration to a small area. This leads to a larger discussion of what the Azorean immigration story can reveal about similar island immigration waves. Everyone wants the paradise life until everyone has it. Understanding the factors pulling migrants to these islands is the first step to creating policies and societies that protect the Azorean paradise.