International Lifestyle Migration in the Andes of Ecuador: How Migrants from the USA Perform Privilege, Import Rurality and Evaluate Their Impact on Local Community Stefan Kordel* and Perdita Pohle

Abstract Using the example of Vilcabamba in Ecuador, this article explores the ways that migrants from the USA materialise their quest for better lives by relocating to small communities in the Global South. Taking a lifestyle migration approach, we explore the ways migrants interpret and perform rurality in their post-migration lives according to their economic and symbolically privileged status. Empirical data gathered from biographical narrative interviews with immigrants and guideline-based interviews with experts show that migrants construct their own, mostly idealised, meanings of rurality; for instance, through the enactment of a healthy way of life close to nature, and social community spirit. Performing their privileged status through everyday practices, lifestyle migrants transfer their mostly Western understandings of rurality, derived from notions of the rural idyll, to other socio-cultural settings. Consequently, they foster various transformations of local society, economy and public space. At the same time, however, via critical self-reflection, they exhibit an ambivalent attitude to these transformations.

Introduction

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ince rural areas lost their unique function of agricultural production and became increasingly transformed into places of consumption, the countryside has diversified in functional terms (Marsden 1999). The rediscovery of rural areas as desirable places to live can be understood as a notable example of these shifts. Why people evaluate places as desirable strongly depends on their experiences of one place in relation to another, which is associated to increasing mobilities in late modern societies (Sheller and Urry 2004; Hannam et al. 2006; Sheller and Urry 2006). In their

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search for better lives, people relocate to places perceived as untouched and healthy, or with affordable housing. Such lifestyle migration processes can be seen in peripheral rural areas both in the Global North (in European countries, e.g., Benson 2011; Gaspar 2014; Eimermann 2015, or the USA, e.g., Hoey 2014) as well as in the Global South as, for instance, in Latin American countries (e.g., Sunil et al. 2007; BantmanMasum 2011; Benson 2013a; Matarrita-Cascante and Stocks 2013; Hayes 2014). Especially in the context of urban-rural migration from the Global North to the South, we assume that two notions are important drivers of lifestyle migration processes: systemic privilege as well as representations and practices of rurality. Firstly, when considering North-South migration, people make value out of their economically and symbolically privileged status during the entire migration process. Enabling movement and thus being a facilitator for the achievement of better lives, privilege is an important aspect of the migration process, as well as of post-migration lives (Croucher 2009, 2012, 2014; Benson 2013a, 2014; Croucher 2015). Secondly, individuals refer to collective representations and mediatised discourses as they negotiate the decision to move to rural areas. Regarding rural space, Bunce (2003, p. 15), for instance, emphasises the significance of the countryside, as it “satisfies basic spiritual needs and [. . .] its landscapes stand as metaphors for associations buried deep in our memories, the rural idyll becomes a [. . .] response to the rise of urban civilisation”. With respect to lifestyle migration processes, the “idealisation of place, the construction of particular destinations as idylls, are mobilised within the quest for a better way of life” (Benson and Osbaldiston 2014, p. 9). There is still very little work explicitly connecting interdependencies of privilege and rurality in terms of lifestyle migration. This article can be expected to provide new insights pointing to the strengths of the lifestyle migration concept for emerging destinations in remote areas in the Global South. The object of the study is to analyse the way that lifestyle migrants import their understandings of rurality to other sociocultural contexts in the light of their relatively privileged status and thus foster social, economic and cultural changes. Following Halfacree and Boyle (1998, p. 11), who assume that migrants “become self-reflexive in their role of changing the rural”, we explicitly focus on lifestyle migrants’ voices to depict the ways they imagine and practise rurality and their evaluations of the transformation of local community including public space. The term community is, thereby, understood as a conceptualisation, according to which material and spatial aspects incorporate with cultural meanings and practices (Liepins 2000). Based on a case study of North American lifestyle migrants in a remote destination in the Andes of South Ecuador, the central questions of this article are:  How do international lifestyle migrants refer to idealised representations of rurality when explaining the motivation to migrate and how do they subsequently perform rurality within their everyday lives?  How do international lifestyle migrants self-reflexively evaluate social and economic transformations and what effect does this have on understandings of rurality?  How does the relatively privileged status of lifestyle migrants influence their negotiation of rurality? C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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The article is structured as follows: firstly, we explain why the lifestyle migration concept offers a promising approach to the questions set up above, followed by a discussion of the meaning of privilege in terms of migration processes and the significance of conceptualisations of rurality, such as the notion of a rural idyll. Next, we introduce the site of the study, namely the municipality of Vilcabamba, Ecuador. After that we outline the applied methods and present our data. The discussion of empirical findings follows the order of the research questions, firstly addressing myths and representations of Vilcabamba as a good place to live, as well as the practices of rural newcomers. Secondly, we point out how the self-reflexive attitudes of international lifestyle migrants result in a critical evaluation of social and economic transformations, e.g., local economies and the housing market. Both questions are discussed against the backdrop of the relatively privileged status of lifestyle migrants. The paper concludes with a summary of our main findings. State of the art: considering privilege and rurality in lifestyle migration research Research on rural immigration both on an intra-regional and international scale mostly followed the counter-urbanisation paradigm (Champion 1989; Buller and Hoggart 1994; Halfacree 2008; Eimermann et al. 2012; Halfacree and Rivera 2012; Halfacree 2014). For theorising rural immigration, however, lifestyle migration recently provided vital inspiration (Benson 2011; Halfacree 2014). Developed as a conceptual framework for understanding migration processes as part of identity-making, lifestyle migration has recently become of scientific interest, as it provides an alternative to the amenity migration research emphasising natural or cultural assets of destinations as pull factors for migration (Moss 2006; Otero et al. 2006; Borsdorf and Hidalgo 2009). Lifestyle migrants are defined as “relatively affluent individuals of all ages, moving either part-time or full-time to places that, for various reasons, signify, for the migrant, a better quality of life” (Benson and O’Reilly 2009, p. 609). In conceptual terms, lifestyle migration does not focus on a specific group of migrants or destinations, but provides a framework for understanding migration processes in terms of “identity-making, and moral considerations over how to live” (Benson and O’Reilly 2016, p. 21). The focus on the individual in the analysis of migration trajectories is the most distinctive part of this conceptual framework. Individuals’ quests for better lives are part of the reflexive project of the self (Hoey 2006), i.e., a stage towards self-fulfilment in the process of making personal calculations about quality of life (Benson and Osbaldiston 2014). In order to capture individuals’ constant longing for better lives, it is valuable to focus on the whole migration process from decision-making to settlement (Benson and O’Reilly 2009; Benson 2011). Especially when lifestyle migrants enter into social settings that they have not experienced before, they repeatedly negotiate the better life. Assuming that social structures influence both individuals’ decisions to move, and their lives following migration, and thus provide opportunities to realise the search for a better life, the concept of lifestyle migration also takes into account notions of privilege (Benson and Osbaldiston 2014; Benson and O’Reilly 2016). In other words, lifestyle migration focuses on the way that “classed identities and C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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practices are played out, reproduced and transformed” (Benson and Osbaldiston 2014, p. 14). As Benson (2013a) suggests, systemic privilege plays an important role in both spatial mobility and in post-migration lives. Particularly in Western thinking, travel and the free choice of where to settle is often taken for granted, but as Cresswell (2010) argues, depends strongly on economic conditions, power, communication technology and networks. Equipped with a particular surplus of rights, e.g., membership of powerful nation states or individual affluence, people from the Global North and elites in the Global South move in order to fulfil their quest for a better way of life, whilst others are excluded. What should be noted is that lifestyle migrants are not necessarily wealthy, but that they strategically deploy economic capital or at least “mobilise capital, assets and resources in ways that make their aspirations for a better life possible within the destination” (Benson and O’Reilly 2016, p. 29). Within lifestyle migration processes, in a Bourdieusian sense, not only economic, but also cultural, social and symbolical capital enable actors to exercise power (Bourdieu 1991). Impressively illustrated in a study of American citizens migrating to Panama, Benson (2013a) argues that lifestyle migrants practise their privilege through volunteering and organising charity events for the local population. Assuming a general quest for reifying a privileged status, Croucher (2009, 2014) contends that lifestyle migrants reassert their status towards local people by means of social and cultural activities. For Leonard (2013, p. 98), the expat community itself “continues to be a key resource by which privilege is constructed and maintained”. While relative privilege has been mostly addressed in economic terms or with regard to rights to move, we looked for manifestations of privilege in the context of individual self-fulfilment on the one hand and constructions of rurality on the other. Social constructions of place represent powerful explanations of the motivation to relocate and post-migration lives (Benson 2011). The lifestyle migration approach assumes that individuals socially construct the meanings of places, understanding them as better or through cultural tropes, such as authenticity or the rural idyll (Benson and Osbaldiston 2014). As “some styles of life are simply more easily imaginable and available in some places” (Benson and O’Reilly 2016, p. 30), it is not surprising that lifestyle migrants prefer places symbolically imbued with particular meanings, such as the Mediterranean way of life or the rural idyll. While striving for the ‘potential self’ (Hoey 2006), lifestyle migrants frequently refer to generalised understandings of rural space, represented in the media as concrete places with certain qualities, like nature, home and family (Baylina and Gunnerud Berg 2010). Although rurality is constructed by different actors in different socio-spatial settings (Bell 2006; Munkejord 2006), Benson and O’Reilly (2009, p. 609) identify the type of the ‘rural idyll seeker’ in their typology of lifestyle migrants. For these migrants, everyday life incorporates a slower pace of life, quiet and peaceful surroundings, and a close-knit community (Matthews et al. 2000; van Dam et al. 2002) as well as social harmony, continuity and community spirit (Benson 2011). Moreover, rural lifestyle migrants also identify getting away from industrial food systems as an important issue (Hayes 2015). Acknowledging that the concept of the rural idyll remains a relatively fixed and static understanding of rurality (Benson 2013b) that varies alongside cultural contexts (Halfacree 2014), it represents a romanticised ideal that encourages migration to rural areas in Western societies. In practice, however, Banks (2004, p. C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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377) identified various obstacles to the achievement of this ideal because, as he found in the case of expatriate retirees, they try “both to appreciate the host culture and to preserve the home culture”. To sum up, the lifestyle migration concept refers to manifestations of privilege and social constructions of space. Especially interdependencies between both subjects have not been considered so far in scientific literature. In order to fill this gap, we address self-reflexive evaluations of the better life during decision-making process and in post-migration lives. This enables us to identify social changes at local level from migrants’ points of view interlinked with their relatively privileged status. While Halfacree (2014, p. 93) described a “mismatch between the geographical imaginary and ‘real’ rural places”, our analysis will be inspired by a more than representational sensitivity. Considering “ways in which rural experiences are felt, sensed, intuited through bodily actions and performances” (Woods 2010, p. 835), we focus on lifestyle migrants’ daily practices. Lifestyle migration to rural Ecuador: the case of Vilcabamba In 2006, the Migration Policy Institute noted a steadily growing number of American citizens moving to Latin America over the last two decades (Dixon et al. 2006). Recently, Otero et al. (2006) observed a gentrifying rediscovery of peripheral areas, such as the high mountain areas of Argentina. In Ecuador, lifestyle migration destinations include towns with a historical heritage, such as Cuenca (Hayes 2014), or more remote areas, such as Vilcabamba in South Ecuador. The latter has a long history of receiving escapists from the USA and Europe who move there in the search for a better or alternative way of life (Hayes 2015). In order to understand the development of Vilcabamba as a favoured destination for lifestyle migrants, we adapt inspiring findings from Brown et al. (2011), who identified patterns of pathdependency in a study on American retirement migration. According to the authors, rural retirement destinations are established via a historical process. Although natural or cultural amenities represent important pre-conditions for movement, migration streams subsequently become self-sustaining, as visitors establish powerful links with communities. The research area, Vilcabamba (Quechua: huilco pamba), is characterised by natural amenities like a warm temperate climate (annual average degree of 20.28C) attractive mountain scenery, with a National Park nearby. It is situated around 45 km south of the city of Loja at an altitude of 1,570 m a.s.l. in the inter-Andean sierras and valleys west of the Cordillera Real in South Ecuador (Figure 1). The municipality is flanked by the Podocarpus National Park in the East, a place considered as a mega hot spot of biodiversity. Its colonial history, still evident in today’s settlement structure and architecture is often seen to be a peculiarity of Vilcabamba. Spanish colonists founded the town with its chequered ground plan, a central plaza with a church and administrative buildings in 1756, whilst earlier settlements can be traced back to at least the 15th century. Historically, peasant labourers were tied to latifundios and thus dependent on landholding classes (Hayes 2015). Health-related tourism started in the 1970s when investigations revealed that Vilcabamba’s inhabitants grow to a C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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Figure 1: The location of Vilcabamba in South Ecuador very old age (Mazess and Forman 1979). Thus, Vilcabamba is frequently associated with ‘the valley of longevity’ and represented as ‘a calm climatic spa’ in travel guidebooks, a narrative that fostered a myth, which resulted in a continual immigration of North American and European citizens. Its reputation as an expatriate destination is widely known, not only within Ecuador, but also within Latin America. As with other Latin American countries such as Mexico, Panama or Costa Rica, economic modernisation was encouraged by incentives for direct foreign investments as well as property laws and visa/citizenship policies (Dixon et al. 2006). A particular neoliberal land law, passed in Ecuador in 1994, facilitated the allocation and/or reallocation of land via the market. Moreover, specific types of visa, e.g. Pensioner Visa and Investor of Real Estate or Securities Visa, stimulated investments in real estate and subsequently fostered transnationalisation of the real estate market (Hayes 2015). Consequently, population has grown rapidly in recent decades, even in remote municipalities. In Vilcabamba, population increased from 3,894 inhabitants in 1999 to 4,778 in 2010 (123%). The most recent census, in 2010, shows that there are 301 foreign residents among the 4,778 inhabitants of the municipality (compared with 64 foreign residents in 1999, 1 470%), with about half being from North America, and the rest from Europe - mainly from Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France (INEC 1990; INEC 2010). However, these official figures should be treated with caution, since they do not capture the real numbers of foreign residents, either C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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due to commuting patterns or a reticence among incomers to register formally as inhabitants (Herzog 2003; for Europe Kordel 2016). The local newspaper, for instance, reported the foreign resident population as 1,200, spread over many small remote neighbourhoods outside the centre (Hayes 2015). Thus, Vilcabamba was chosen as it is an outstanding example for remote municipalities with an expanding population due to lifestyle migration and tourism. Data and methods Empirical data on lifestyle migration to Vilcabamba were collected in 2012 by means of 16 biographical narrative interviews with 19 immigrants (Table 1) as well as six problem-centred guideline-based interviews with seven experts (Table 2). As an additional source of data, we carried out participant observation at places frequented by international lifestyle migrants, such as the village square or organic farms over a period of 5 years (2009-2014). We also went to meetings of migrants to record observations relating to economic, social and symbolic issues of everyday life. To capture functional transformations of public space, we undertook a mapping with special emphasis on the existence of lifestyle-related businesses in the central village square. All 16 biographical narrative interviews aimed to elicit respondents’ motives for moving to Latin America, in order to get an insight into lifestyle migrants’ representations and practices of better lives. They were encouraged to talk about their everyday lives in Vilcabamba in relation to housing conditions, daily activities and social Table 1: Biographical data of the interviewed US American lifestyle migrants in Vilcabamba Informants’ pseudonyms

Age

Gender

62 27 47 21 46 65 69 n/a

male female male male male female male male, female male male, female female female male male female male, female

John Karen Michael Matthew Nicholas Janet Thomas Chris, Hannah Marco Tom, Tina

57 47/45

Liz Olivia Frederic William Kate Ethan, Mel

18 18 68 43 68 n/a

Family Status

Occupation

in Vilcabamba since

previous site of living

married acquainted single acquainted married single single married

self-employed self-employed self-employed self-employed constructor self-employed retired retired

1987 2011 2012 2011 2010 2010 2010 1975

Pennsylvania Chicago California Vermont Hawaii Hawaii California n/a

single married

self-employed self-employed

2009 2011

California Texas

single single single married single married

self-employed self-employed retired n/a self-employed farmer

2009 2012 2011 2011 2012 n/a

Alaska Georgia Florida California Florida Texas

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Table 2: List of interviewed experts Informants’ pseudonyms Hans Joseph, Caroline Jack Tim Jorge Seth

Profession Retailer for tourist souvenirs Tour operator Operator of a lodge Real estate agent Real estate agent Real estate agent

Country of origin Germany Germany Switzerland Australia Ecuador Belgium

life. During the interviews, however, they referred automatically to their motives for relocation and their lives prior to migration. The interviews were conducted in public places such as cafes and restaurants. Our sample was selected by means of a snowball system, taking into consideration that American citizens constitute the majority of international lifestyle migrants. After each interview, respondents were invited to provide contact details for other migrants, who were then invited to participate. The age of the 19 North American migrants interviewed varied widely (Table 1). The sample included people in their early and mid 20s as well as retirees and was also balanced in terms of gender. While some recent studies have focused mainly on retirees with reliable pensions (Sunil et al. 2007), our sample consisted mainly of selfemployed entrepreneurs working at internet business, running hotels and restaurants or involved in health-related enterprises. Most of the people interviewed had spent their savings on fulfilling their dream to move to Latin America and still had to make a living afterwards. Compared to rural immigration in the USA, where couples clearly predominate (Halfacree 2008), almost half of the sample consisted of singles. The high proportion of singles living in Vilcabamba is a notable difference from other studies and further underpins the importance of lifestyle migration as an individual life project (Hayes 2015). Three of the informants also had young children. Interestingly, most of our respondents (9 out of 19) had already experienced domestic lifestyle migration within the USA. They had lived in California, Florida, Texas or Hawaii, in both rural and urban areas. With regard to current housing, they told us that they either lived in rented dwellings or private properties. None of our respondents lived in gated communities. Expert interviews included actors engaged in tourism, such as tour operators and people running hotels as well as people involved in real estate agencies (Table 2). They were either Australian, European or Ecuadorian citizens. Interviews focussed on the development and current relevance of tourism for lifestyle migration purposes as well as socio-spatial and socio-cultural transformations fostered by lifestyle migrants. For analysis all the interviews were transcribed in full and personal data were rendered anonymous. Narratives referring to broad themes of the lifestyle migration process were identified within an analytical process of data-reduction. At the end, we produced a set of categories organised around broad areas of representation and materialisation of the rural idyll and its manifestations in everyday practice as well as the impact of lifestyle migration on rural communities. Although our data do not C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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claim to be representative of the entire foreign population of Vilcabamba, they do provide an initial insight into individuals’ constructions of rurality in the context of their relatively privileged status. Results In order to understand how international lifestyle migrants perform rurality in terms of their privileged status, our analysis is presented in four sections. Firstly, we address representations of Vilcabamba prior to migration through the lens of narratives about the search for better lives. Secondly, we discuss lifestyle migrants’ everyday practices relating to their notions of rurality. Finally, we discuss the evaluations of social and economic transformations indicated by international lifestyle migrants themselves. A better place in the rural: representations and myths Although lifestyle migration scholars agree that migration processes are highly subjective trajectories, driven by an individual’s quest for a better life (Benson and O’Reilly 2009), people appropriate specific representations of place when they choose their new home. More than half of our respondents attributed to Vilcabamba the status of a ‘mystical place’. Experienced during the search for a better place to live, they report power and energy or even transcendental notions. The following comment exemplifies how this particular myth fosters migration. “When I found this place it was just like incredibly beautiful and it has some sort of powers. I do nt know, it just seems like its a super-powerful place. And I just fell in love with the area and I wanted to be a part of this community. [. . .] I had only been here for I believe two weeks. I just found the place right away. I was walking down the hill and I got a message, you know, loud and clear, that I needed to move to this area and that even pointed me to the direction. [. . .] I travelled throughout Ecuador and I didn’t feel the same way that I felt in Vilcabamba. So I decided to stay.” (Michael, Transcript p. 3)

Additionally, widely commented by our respondents, positive images of Vilcabamba refer to the myth of the valley of longevity. As an example of word-of-mouth advertising, this specific myth encourages further migration or at least maintains the continuous stream of migrants. Some informants knew several centenarians from Vilcabamba (John, Kate). John (Transcript p. 31), for instance, had a neighbour who was 119 when he died and had a daughter of 92 years of age. Longevity is highly associated with migrants’ labelling of Vilcabamba as a healthy place. Movements and communities such as ‘The Rawfoodists’ and ‘Health Ranger’ promote these representations. Karen (Transcript p. 7) states: “It was probably like three years ago that I was getting these emails from this guy who calls himself the ‘Health Ranger’ and he puts out this ‘Natural News’ like almost every day and he was living here and he was talking about how great it was. And there were pictures of Vilcabamba and for some reason it really resonated with me. He talked about the fact that you can grow food year-round and that the locals are really friendly.” (Karen, Transcript p. 7) C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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As her comment suggests, Karen’s motivation for relocation was shaped by Vilcabamba’s reputation as a healthy place to live, brought to her attention by the selfproclaimed ‘health ranger’. Most of our respondents appropriated this representation within their individual quest for a better life (Matthew, Liz, Olivia, Janet). While Brown et al. (2011) identified personal networks, which support a continuous, intergenerational stream of migration, newsletters and blogs also maintain and develop particular myths in the case of Vilcabamba. Accordingly, path-dependency is observable with regard to specific representations, which are spread by media and word-ofmouth, but adopted by individuals as part of their life stories. While most of our respondents’ narratives referred to better lives in Vilcabamba, nearly all of them also mentioned problems at their places of origin (Michael, Thomas, Karen, Tina, Tom, Matthew, Frederic, William, Marco, Kate, real estate salesman Tim). In particular, respondents who had lived in bigger cities in their countries of origin highlighted general distress and insecurity (Michael, Matthew, Nicholas, Frederic, Marco), as reported in the following quotation: “We feel safer here. It is just a nicer smaller community instead of Houston. In the neighbourhood we were living - it is not a nice neighbourhood, it is dangerous. Marc couldn’t really go outside of the fenced yard. But here can go all the way to town. No problem, take a taxi by himself, so it is safer.” (Nicholas, Transcript Vilcabamba, p. 21)

Nicholas states that in contrast to Houston, children in Vilcabamba are raised in secure environments and burglaries are rare. Contrasting the lack of security in US American cities with a peaceful and slower pace of life in Latin America, he envisages the better life as having qualities that are collectively attributed to living in the countryside. Even informants who moved from rural areas to Vilcabamba acknowledged that security was lacking in the USA (Tina, Matthew, Janet, Marco, tour operator Joseph). Although myths and representations of place are collectively shared, the quest for a better life in a rural community, understood as healthy and safe, remains an individual project. Everyday practices – (re)producing imaginations of health and community spirit A widespread goal among lifestyle migrants in Vilcabamba is to improve their health-related quality of life. With regard to food consumption, for example, practices such as buying or preparing organic food are widely reported (Michael, Thomas, Matthew, Liz, William, Janet, John). As an illustration of this focus on health, Matthew was keen to stress the importance of access to fresh food all year round. “It is a great way to have a healthy lifestyle. For me, having access to fresh food from the garden all year round, is important. There is no winter where things stop growing because it gets too cold and freezes. So the food is the important factor, having fruits and vegetables like fresh all the time that is really cool.” (Matthew, Transcript p. 12)

While a healthy way of life is largely performed through food consumption, also food production is practised among international lifestyle migrants in Vilcabamba. Organic agriculture, for instance, is performed both for and by them. Most farms are run by migrants from the USA, Mexico and Europe. They mainly offer organic C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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gardening activities and follow a biodynamic or sustainable approach. Being involved in eco-farming is part of an ideal of being self-sufficient for some people (Thomas, Matthew, William, Janet, John), while others are involved in market activities, such as selling the products directly on the farm or for the local market. Participating in eco-farming, lifestyle migrants adopt local agricultural practices against the backdrop of the Western ideal of a healthy way of life. In reproducing such a ‘pastoral idyll’, lifestyle migrants emphasise a nostalgic aestheticisation of land uses and import a particular meaning of rurality associated with their Western understanding. Another example of the enactment of a rural idyll that is widespread among North Americans in Vilcabamba, regardless whether they are single or married, consists of the performance of community spirit. The following statement, made by Matthew, illustrates this. “The community is really nice. So when we arrived here, we didn’t really know anybody and after a month being here, we already had tons of friends. There is always nice parties going on. [. . .] There is Yoga every day in town, there is meditation at the meditation centre, there is potlucks pretty much every week [. . .]. The people are the most important thing why I like living here, because of the community, likeminded people.” (Matthew, Transcript p. 13)

Despite a general trend towards individualisation in Western societies and the specific objective of a self-determined way of life among lifestyle movers, social and spiritual activities with likeminded people are important components of lifestyle migrants’ daily lives. Such practices encourage community building that we interpret as an “egalitarian lifestyle of leisured sociability” (Oliver 2007, p. 137). Lifestyle migrants associate a sense of community spirit with the enlargement of their circles of friends. Cultural events in particular and village life in general provide an appropriate setting for such activity. A lifestyle migrant critically evaluates the community in a self-reflexive manner: “I have never had this many friends, close friends you know because maybe since we are all in a foreign country we kind of dispend together which maybe a good thing or may not be. We probably should be hanging around more with the locals.” (Karen, Transcript p. 7)

In contrast with the ideal of interaction with friendly local people, in practice social interaction occurs mainly between the migrants themselves. They tend to stick with their kind and relationships with the local community remain limited to utilitarian and beneficial interactions, like those described by Korpela (2012) among Westerners in India. Accordingly, a lack of language competencies comes into play. In sum, migrants actively chose to live in an ‘expat bubble’ as Fechter (2007) terms it and produce space predominantly for their own use (Benson 2013a). As a consequence, social segregation and parallel societies emerge, while expat communities themselves construct and maintain privilege, as Leonard (2013) has described. By means of specific practices, such as organising charity events like grafiterıa (a flea market where one can exchange goods), lifestyle migrants import social behaviours to rural Latin America that were not present before. Not only by introducing cultural activities, but also by re-evaluating consumption practices, they transform C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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local society and public space. An impressive example is the Sunday market, where migrants increasingly demand ecologically produced, local agricultural goods and consequently alter the range of goods. The underlying intention of their participation is to “keep the drama of everyday country folk live” (Bell 2006, p. 152). In line with findings from Korpela (2012, p. 121) on social constructions of authenticity among Westerners in Varanasi, India, international lifestyle migrants transform “traditions according to their own preferences [. . .] and define, what is authentic”. While Korpela identifies power imbalances between migrants and the native population as drivers in constituting what is perceived as authentic, the example of lifestyle migrants in Vilcabamba reveals transformations of public space in cultural and social terms that are associated with their cultural and social position of privilege in defining what counts as rural. Thus, a Western understanding of rurality is introduced to the Andean Latin American community. Lifestyle migrants’ evaluations of their impact on local community How lifestyle migrants evaluate their own existence in the local community was discussed in different ways in the literature. While Croucher (2009) argued that they were sometimes unaware of their status, Benson (2013a) showed that they had a more reflexive attitude. In this study, we focus on how migrants themselves evaluate social and economic transformations in the village of Vilcabamba and the effects of this evaluation on meanings of rurality. We identified lifestyle migrants’ evaluations of the local society and issues of welfare in general, public space and the real estate market. While most respondents had arrived in Vilcabamba quite recently, mostly between 2009 and 2012 (Table 1), a respondent who migrated to the village in the 1980s is able to reflect retrospectively on the overall development. “30 years ago it looked like everyone was poor. There was never anything like even an apple in Vilcabamba. The only thing there was like fruit where bananas and papayas, that was it. Now you can find everything. You could never find butter, you couldn’t find like I said any fruit, the only can food was tuna fish. It was just a really poor village with nothing to do and sporadic utilities like electricity and running water would always go off sometimes for days. (. . .) I think for the most part, the local people are happy because I see a lot of construction. Most of the land in Vilcabamba is still owned by people from Vilcabamba. And those people are developing their land, they are building a rental units and building stores, all with the thought of renting or selling things to foreigners. The economy here in Vilcabamba is booming. I have seen the poverty just pretty much disappear here.” (John, Transcript p. 32)

John evaluates the existence of international lifestyle migrants positively, mostly with respect to bringing welfare, prosperity and ‘civilisation’ to the small Andean village. In doing so, he takes a perspective that associates his own presence with a success story (A˚kerlund and Sandberg 2015) and thus justifies the act of migration as a better choice both for himself and others. Besides prosperity derived from the sale of land, many respondents (Karen, Tom, Matthew, John, Chris, tour operator Joseph, operator of a lodge Jack and real estate agent Jorge) stressed the provision of job opportunities for locals as constructors, gardeners or craftsmen. Employment opportunities for C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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local inhabitants, however, are mostly limited to low-paying jobs and local people frequently do not participate in the emerging service sectors. The following statement made by Chris, who also migrated to Vilcabamba early on (in the mid 1970s), exemplifies this perspective. “Mostly the locals have a lot more work, a lot more people have work because they are building houses for foreigners, the taxi drivers have work driving people around. The gardeners have work. [. . .] There is a little more work and so it stimulates everybody’s economy. They are able to educate their kids and they are able to do whatever they want to do, they have more money.” (Chris, Transcript p. 38)

Referring to an overall improvement in the economy and education, Chris associates rising living standards in the local community with the phenomenon of international lifestyle migration. His words might be indicative of a lifestyle migrant’s conception of himself as a development worker. Perceiving one’s own role as positive or beneficial for the native community goes hand in hand with the performance of a social idyll. Interpreting this evaluation enables us to combine notions of privilege and rurality. In line with Croucher’s (2009) argument, which suggests implicit and explicit development work as a migrant’s justification for being there, we contend that this stands as a further example of migrants’ assertion of their privileged social status as well as a strategy for maintaining social harmony as part of the rural idyll. However, as the following statement of Marco, a migrant who came to Vilcabamba in 2009 illustrates, some migrants also reflect critically on the rising living standards of the local people. “People that have land are selling it to the gringos and they are getting huge amounts of money and it doesn’t always get saved or invested, it is spent on cars or vacations or whatever. And then when it comes for your children and inheritances there is nothing left.” (Marco, Transcript p. 35)

Marco argues that local people benefit from selling land to foreigners, but then criticises them for spending the money on luxury goods, which is not sustainable. As previously noted, lifestyle migrants not only evaluate their own presence and concrete practices in the locale as positive for the receiving community, they also exhibit critical attitudes towards their own privileged status. To sum up, self-reflexive evaluations, as illustrated above, show how lifestyle migrants repeatedly assess place and society in light of an ongoing search for better lives. Rural gentrification: lifestyle migrants’ self-reflexive perspectives on local economy and housing Lifestyle migrants’ involvements in tourist industries, including gastronomy, lodging, tour operations and services stem from a need to make a living and a desire to express themselves as small entrepreneurs (Stone and Stubbs 2007). In introducing lifestyle migration industries (David et al. 2014), migrants themselves encourage a self-sustaining migration process. Such economic activities have resulted in the functional transformation of buildings in the centre of Vilcabamba. Mapping the function of the buildings in 2014 (Figure 2), we identified 25 gastronomy facilities, dispersed C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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Figure 2: Function of the buildings in the core centre of Vilcabamba

throughout the centre of Vilcabamba, ranging from simple cafes and bars to sophisticated restaurants. More than half were run by immigrants, either domestic or international, and clearly intended to meet foreigners’ culinary preferences by offering healthy food, juices or muffins. Shops selling clothes and jewellery near the taxistand mainly attract the attention of tourists and migrants. In all, there were ten places associated with tourist activities, such as those offering information, services or souvenirs, located close to the plaza, while accommodation was relatively rare and mostly situated on the village outskirts. Compared with other lifestyle migration destinations, establishments offering legal advice in English were lacking and real estate agents were relatively rare in the centre (2), yet informants reported between 7 and 9 agents located on the village outskirts. When contrasting the functional structure of the buildings in the centre of Vilcabamba with our observations from the mid 2000s, we saw an increase in hotels, restaurants and tourist offerings (e.g., tour operators, artisanal and souvenir shops). The considerable number of real estate agents is a new phenomenon. With regard to gastronomy and groceries, two changes can be observed. At first, reported by an expert running a tourist accommodation, the prices for everyday goods, such as groceries, had increased and nowadays locals preferred the cheap Sunday market instead of buying vegetables in grocery stores (Expert interview with Jack, operator of a tourist accommodation, Transcript p. 45). Second, we observed a qualitative shift towards a more diverse range of products to meet foreigners’ food preferences. The quality of produce offered by lifestyle entrepreneurs provides evidence for the assumption that lifestyle migrants reproduce a Western understanding of rurality. Janet, who came to C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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Vilcabamba in 2010, interprets the changes in the functional structure of the buildings of Vilcabamba through a cultural lens: “Americans have sort of taken over the town square, there are now several restaurants owned by mixed race couples [. . .]. That has made the place very US friendly. It is just kind of American, it is sort of homey. [. . .] I think the culture here is undergoing a great deal of stress.” (Janet, Transcript p. 26)

A further transformation evaluated by international lifestyle migrants comes into play in the real estate sector. While Hayes (2015) has explained in detail historical continuities in the structure of land-ownership among elites in Vilcabamba, the presented study reflects changes in the context of lifestyle migrants’ housing preferences. Distinctive features are fenced private properties and gated communities. As Rainer and Malizia (2014) observed, gated communities proliferated in rural Latin American municipalities. In Vilcabamba, two gated communities exist: ‘El Atillo’, advertised as a Club Hacienda, Resort & Spa with 36 plots, conceptualised as an enclosed gated community and ‘Hacienda San Joaquın’ in the vicinity of Vilcabamba, run by a migrant from Florida with 93 plots and similar security features. Understood as the materialisation of imported values and social behaviour, gated communities may reflect a need for security and social cohesion. Major concerns expressed by lifestyle migrants in Vilcabamba refer to qualitative and quantitative transformations on the real estate market. Firstly, in qualitative terms, they recognise a privatisation of public space. The following comment, made by tour operator Caroline, illustrates the evaluation of fenced properties from a cultural perspective. “In those days nothing was fenced off. The properties were accessible for everyone. (. . .) And now everything is fenced off and declared as private. Regardless, if you go in, there are dangerous dogs. This is totally unusual for locals.” (Expert interview with Caroline, tour operator, Transcript p. 42)

As an expert involved in tourism emphasises, the proliferation of fenced yards and properties is a Western cultural import the locals are not used to (Expert interview with Joseph, tourist operator, Transcript p. 44). Although this was not explicitly addressed in our interviews, we assume that the privatisation of land threatens lifestyle migrant’s idealised understanding of rural space in general and the notion of a close-knit community in particular. An expert interview conducted with a real estate salesman discloses concerns about openness. “It is always the same, it is the fight between gated and open community. With the gated you don’t have mainly contact with the locals, you don’t let them in. There is no exchange with the local life around. If you are coming from outside, you settle down in a gated community, you just bring your stuff from where you lived. Here you don’t have any change, so nobody is taking advantage. You still live the way you lived there, you didn’t change anything in your attitude, you don’t grow up. On the other side you have the open non-gated community which open towards public, that is the one we have. We are really promoting that kind of attitude, because there you have a change, you can work, you can talk to the people, you are allowed to get in.” (Expert interview with Seth, real estate salesman, Transcript p. 51) C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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Secondly, with respect to quantitative transformations, a lifestyle migrant and a local real estate agent report rising property prices and reflect their own role. “What we heard from locals is that there are these fears about domination of foreigners. And this price spiral, caused by the permanent demand for properties (. . .), whereby locals are nearly priced out. A gap arises, a gap between the Bourgeois and the poor.” (Mel, Transcript p. 29) “A foreigner says: I pay 25.000 for your property. He agrees. Another foreigner says: No, I pay 50.000. Therefore, the prices go up. The foreigners encourage the increase.” (Expert interview with Jorge, real estate salesman Transcript p. 50)

Similar to more established expatriate communities in Mexico (Schafran and Monkkonen 2011), gentrification, understood as “the production of urban space for progressively more affluent users” (Hackworth 2002), also takes place in remote areas such as Vilcabamba. As stated above, lifestyle migrants critically reflect on their own attitude by noting rising property prices, which cut the local population out of the real estate market. However, many local land-owning elites do become involved in real estate development (Hayes 2015). Following Nelson and Nelson (2011), who blame gated communities for introducing new forms of class and preferences for rural living, the existence of gated communities may encourage rural gentrification to a certain extent. This process results in the marginalisation of the local population that may encourage aversion and racism or lead them to emigrate. As lifestyle migrants themselves critically acknowledge, Vilcabamba is subject to continual immigration. “We definitively have more of a melting pot of personalities and now Vilcabamba has its own critical mass.” (Expert interview with Tim, real estate salesman, Transcript p. 49) “If local government does not limit further in-migration, local people won’t be not more than slaves of the gringos.” (Expert interview with Caroline, tour operator, Transcript p. 42)

Lifestyle migrants themselves struggle against further immigration to the municipality of Vilcabamba because, according to their point of view, the carrying capacity of this lifestyle migration destination has been reached. Moreover, as observed in other lifestyle migration destinations, e.g. rural Australia, older lifestyle migrants complain about newcomers who neglect local or sustainable practices when developing properties (Osbaldiston 2012). Thus, the existence of lives considered as better, that are associated with static notions of rurality, i.e., the rural idyll, are perceived as endangered. This example points towards lines of conflict between different groups of lifestyle migrants, in which there are modernising and preservationist factions (McWatters 2009). Conclusions This paper has provided empirical evidence that lifestyle migrants’ relatively privileged status and their constructions of meanings of rurality are strongly interwoven. Drawing on the example of North American lifestyle migrants who have moved to the village of Vilcabamba in South Ecuador, qualitative data demonstrates the importance of collectively shared representations of ‘the rural’ both when explaining C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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motivations for relocation as well as in post-migration lives. Besides the myth of Vilcabamba as a powerful place, the notion of longevity, associated with a healthy way of life, plays an important role. Considering the migration processes itself, such narratives foster path-dependency and subsequently encourage a self-sustaining migration stream (Brown et al. 2011). Organic farming activities offer empirical evidence of the performance of idealised representations in everyday life. Moreover, lifestyle migrants pursue practices that reproduce rurality in a twofold manner. Firstly, they establish enterprises, such as juice factories or massage practices, which aim to fulfil lifestyle migrants’ quest for a healthy way of life. Secondly they provide services for the tourist sector, e.g., lodgings or gastronomy. Both practices foster notable manifestations of this process that can be seen in the functional transformation of buildings in the centre of Vilcabamba. By means of everyday activities, lifestyle migrants also construct sociability and a community spirit. As interactions mainly focus on their own community, lifestyle migrants create parallel societies that frequently cohere along lines of nation, class and race. In keeping with this finding, the quest for living in close relationship with the local population, expressed by migrants prior to moving, is not fulfilled in their post-migration lives. Overall, lifestyle migrants evaluate their immigration to rural Ecuador positively and interpret their own presence as a valuable contribution to local development, for example in terms of better income opportunities for the local population. Positioning themselves as patrons or benefactors, they emphasise the higher standard of living of the locals that results from their presence, and this offers them justification for being there. This highlights an awareness of their privileged status. The desire of some lifestyle migrants to materialise notions of rurality, by, for example, buying large-scale private properties either within or outside gated communities, is evaluated critically by other migrants. In moving to gated communities, international lifestyle migrants materialise a quest for distinctiveness, primarily in terms of leisure and sociability. Creating exclusive rural spaces, they perform their privilege both economically and symbolically, resulting in segregation and marginalisation. As small villages like Vilcabamba simultaneously become more attractive for both migrants and tourists, the phenomenon of crowding becomes significant. Even lifestyle migrants themselves perceive that the Andean village is saturated with foreigners. Endangering the perceived rural idyll, further immigration to small municipalities is thus subject to critical evaluation. The discussion presented here, dealing with the negotiation of the meaning of rurality, shows how rurality becomes mobilised within lifestyle migration processes. Introducing a mostly Western understanding of rurality to a remote Andean village, lifestyle migrants foster transformations that go beyond a pure hedonic understanding of the search for better lives. Instead they also refer to discourses of globalisation and development in a self-reflexive manner. In this respect, lifestyle migration research could be further addressed in a broader debate on globalisation and development (Laczko and Brian 2013). Acknowledgements We are most grateful to Nina Helmschrott, who conducted the interviews in Vilcabamba within her thesis in Cultural Geography, to Viviana Buitron Ca~ nadas for mapping the function of the C 2016 The Authors. Sociologia Ruralis V C 2016 European Society for Rural Sociology. V

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buildings and to Tobias Weidinger for inspiring discussions on the topic. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on a previous version of this article. We finally gratefully acknowledge the support of all respondents involved in the interviews presented here.

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Stefan Kordel* Institute of Geography Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Wetterkreuz 15, 91058 Erlangen Germany e-mail: [email protected] Perdita Pohle Institute of Geography Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Wetterkreuz 15, 91058 Erlangen Germany e-mail: [email protected]

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