Leading scholars in the sociology of migration, Michaela Benson and Karen O’Reilly, re-theorise lifestyle migration through a sustained focus on postcolonialism at its intersections with neoliberalism.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Colonial traces and neoliberal presents: situating Malaysia and Panama.- Chapter 3: Residential Tourism and economic development: Imagineering Boquete and Penang.- Chapter 4: Governance as practice: regulating lifestyle migration.- Chapter 5: Diverse Lives: weaving Personal Stories.- Chapter 6: Working towards the good life.- Chapter 7: Home-making and the reproduction of privilege.- Chapter 8: The pursuit of well-being and a healthy way of life.- Chapter 9: Telling practice stories of lifestyle migration:at the intersections of postcoloniality and neoliberalism.

Leading scholars in the sociology of migration, Michaela Benson and Karen O’Reilly, re-theorise lifestyle migration through a sustained focus on postcolonialism at its intersections with neoliberalism. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the interplay of colonial traces and neoliberal presents, the relationship between residential tourism and economic development, and the governance and regulation of lifestyle migration. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by the authors among lifestyle migrants in Malaysia and Panama, they reveal the structural and material conditions that support migration and how these are embodied by migrant subjects, while also highlighting their agency within this process. This rigorous work marks an important contribution to emerging debates surrounding privileged migration and mobility. It will appeal to sociologists, social theorists, human and cultural geographers, economists, social psychologists, demographers, social anthropologists, tourism and migration studies specialists.

“Benson and O’Reilly retrace the interplay between lifestyle migrants’ ground-level practices in Penang, Malaysia and Boquete, Panama and postcolonial heritage of and current neoliberal policies in these locations with a careful attention to the hows of their reciprocal entanglements. This interesting book should be read by migration researchers in all subfields of this specialization.” (Ewa Morwska, University of Essex, UK)“This book encapsulates the quality of both O’Reilly and Benson’s skills as both theorists and ethnographers in migration scholarship. Their work collectively in lifestyle migration culminates in this piece and delivers an astounding depth of material for anyone who works in this space but also broadly for those who work on globalisation, migration and tourism research.” (Nick Osbaldiston, James Cook University, Australia)

Reveals how neoliberalism and postcolonialism articulate in the production of lifestyle migration as a social process Describes lifestyle migration as a process through the lens of practice theory Highlights the constraints and opportunities that shape the lives of lifestyle migrants and the processes by which these are negotiated Demonstrates how lifestyle migration has been shaped by historical processes such as colonialism and empire, but also by wider global trends such as neoliberalism