Deciphering diaspora – translating transnationalism: Family dynamics, identity constructions and the legacy of ‘home’ in second-generation Greek-American return migration

The article explores through the phenomenon of ‘return migration’ in Greece the settlement and identification processes of a second-generation Greek-American ‘returning migrant’, as a heuristic narrative to examine the meanings attached to the experience of return migration as they relate to and impact on the returnee's sense of self (ethnic) and sense of place (national). The concepts of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ are central in the return migratory project which entails (re)location and (dis)placement as well as adjustment and alienation. Furthermore, the article considers the multiple interactions (social, cultural, political) between the place of origin and the place of destination, the role that family plays in migrant lifeworlds as well as the gendered and ethnic expressions of migrant identification.