Dr İdil Akıncı-Pérez explores how multigenerational migrant families in the Gulf are reimagining ageing, retirement, and long-term security in a region defined by temporary migration.

Abstract

This talk draws on more than a decade of research with multigenerational migrant families in the Gulf to examine how ageing, retirement, and long-term security are being reimagined in a region historically defined by temporary migration. Recent policy shifts, including long-term residence visas, have made longer-term futures in the Gulf more attainable for some. Yet these opportunities remain closely tied to financial assets, leaving a significant blind spot around how lower-income residents navigate ageing and retirement. My research follows these dynamics closely, asking not only where people imagine retiring and ageing but under what material and emotional circumstances, financial insecurities, and intergenerational responsibilities these decisions are made.

In this talk, I reflect on how this research informed an exhibition I recently curated in Dubai. The exhibition brought together family narratives, and visual storytelling to engage with questions rarely spoken about openly in public and policy circles but central to migrant lives in the Gulf. I discuss why this form of public engagement matters: not as an add-on to research, but as a way of reshaping how we understand, communicate, and ultimately approach policy on migration, retirement and later life security in a region where the boundaries between permanence and temporariness are increasingly blurred.

Organised by the Centre for Families and Relationships, and supported by the Citizenship and Migration Research Network.

Speaker Bio for Dr İdil Akıncı-Pérez

My work explores how immigration and citizenship frameworks shape opportunities and challenges from a global perspective. More specifically, I examine the lived experiences of temporary migration systems across generations, focusing on the strategies individuals and families use to access long-term security. By focusing on the Arab Gulf region, home to the world’s largest South-South migration corridor, my work highlights diverse social and economic distinctions within the ‘global South’ and their impact on migration pathways and perceptions of citizenship.

Since 2021, I have focused on the experiences of aging migrants and their life plans after retirement in the United Arab Emirates. In light of new visa reforms and voluntary pension schemes, I examine decision-making processes around where to retire and how to achieve financial security in old age. This work uncovers the complex interdependencies between younger and older generations, portraying retirement as a “family matter” in the Gulf.