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Abstract

This article foregrounds the role of migration and transnational cultural exchange in the(trans)formation of cultures of ageing. It argues that sustained emigration and return tothe Azores archipelago have contributed to the transnational production of hybrid cul-tures of ageing. The paper suggests that understanding transnational cultures of ageingin the context of return requires a broader field of enquiry that considers return migrants’discursive framings in tension with transnational and local contexts. Returnees’accountsof ageing, produced in relation to transnational exchange and local interactions, emphasisethree intersecting themes–health and the ageing body, ageing and care, and mindset andwork ethic in later life–which reveal a cultural shift towards forms of active ageing. Thediscussion shows that new, hybrid lexicons of ageing are articulated through practices andlanguages of othering and negotiating that are conducive to unsettling social relations andeconomic contexts in the homeland.