ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the life trajectories of migrant care workers. Life trajectories represent the subjective ways people continuously make decisions about the direction in which to move their lives within specific social situations and historical circumstances. Wright Mills through his concept of the 'sociological imagination' comprising the intersection of individual biographies and social-historical context. Migration clearly represents a comprehensive change in a life course, a turning point involving decision processes, because of the multiple aspects of change related to replacing a home country context with a foreign host country context. The chapter contributes to understanding some of the framework for migrants decision-making processes, while the 'real life' reasons for going and staying or returning are rather more complex and involve active and changing decisions. It discusses migration trajectories contributes to the theoretical discussion regarding settlement versus temporary migration, conceptualized by Parrenas in the concept 'circular migration' based on the qualitatively different 'homeward bound' orientation.