Destination retirement: construction of place identity amongst North American retirees expatriating to Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

The phenomenon of Canadian and US American baby-boomers moving to foreign locations for the purpose of retirement is a growing demographic trend. This study examines expatriate retiree place identity formation in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico. The findings of this study argue that the continual 'acculturation' into a demographically similar social 'in-group' of expatriates, and the formation of a social identity and social space that occurs therein, feeds the development of a sense of place imbued with positive meanings, and an identity linked to that place. The cyclical nature of the cultural insertion process is continued with the strengthening of the group-based social identity via the expatriate in-group's rejection of those places - namely, the 'local' place - with which they do not identify, and their celebration of the place with which they do identify, a place that is continually being socially constructed by its inhabitants.