Visiting 'home': Considering diasporic practices through assemblage dynamics

Visiting 'home' as a migrant may not always be about going home. Exploring a case where visiting is motivated by tourism as much as - or more than - migration, I argue for using assemblage as a set of ontological premises enables alternative appreciations of how practices of 'visiting home' evolve. Starting from a primacy of relationality and of malleable materialities, this perspective does not rely on migration-defined polarities to frame the spectrum of belonging in a homeland but allows for influences from many sources to interact and generate new formations that exceed the sum of their parts. Within this case, I analyse diasporic practices of visiting through three entwined dynamics: a contradictory sense of attachment to a place of ancestral origin, a desire for embodied leisure on vacation, and an instinct to insulate oneself from certain others. All three simultaneously contribute to the potency and perpetuation of diasporic visiting in Morocco.

Automated summary

This article explores the motivations behind visiting one's homeland, arguing that it may be driven by tourism as much as, if not more than, migration. Through the use of assemblage as a set of ontological premises, the author provides alternative perspectives on the evolution of "visiting home". The author analyzes the diasporic practices of visiting in Morocco through three interwoven dynamics, highlighting the contradictory attachment to the ancestral place, the desire for leisure on vacation, and the instinct to isolate oneself from certain others.