Book Review: O'Reilly, The British on the Costa Del Sol

Karen O'Reilly.
The British on the Costa Del Sol: Transnational Identities and Local Communities.
Routledge, 2000. 187 pp.
$39.99 paper (1-84142-047-6), $128.00 cloth (1-84142-048-4)

"The British in Spain" has been a topic of considerable interest in Britain, especially during the 1980's and early 1990's, when its treatment in the mass media was typically negative or problem-oriented. Migrants were cast in the role of colonizers creating another Britain away from home and showing little interest in Spanish society and culture; they were also portrayed as naive paradise-seekers facing some of the harsher realities of expatriate existence, such as homesickness, dwindling finances, or health problems; their lives were usually characterized as hedonistic or empty, revolving around endless cocktail parties, excessive consumption of alcohol, or aimless lazing about in the sun. Attention was sometimes drawn to the "criminal element" within the migrant community, as tabloids described the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by ex-criminals or fugitives from the law. Unfortunately, this kind of public attention did not stimulate much systematic scholarly research on the subject. Indeed, as O'Reilly suggests, the largely speculative views of academic researchers tended to reflect and reinforce the popular representations of the migrants in the mass media. As such, they became part of a larger body of "commonsense knowledge" whose main themes, assertions and conclusions are reconsidered in this study of British migrants in Fuengirola, a mass tourist resort on the Costa Del Sol.

Primary data for the study were obtained during fifteen months' field research between 1993 and 1994 and in several shorter visits to the area afterwards. Acting as a volunteer in local British associations and employing a flexible investigative approach, O'Reilly succeeds in uncovering a migrant community that is more complex and fluid than that suggested in popular discourse. It includes not only elderly retirees, but also semi-retired younger persons, business owners, tourism industry workers, as well as a few shady characters. Some migrants are full-time residents in Spain, but others return to Britain regularly during the summer months; many are seasonal visitors who spend the winters in Fuengirola, while others, who usually own second homes in the area, make irregular, opportunistic visits several times a year. Despite their relative wealth, the migrants in Fuengirola are a marginal minority rather than a powerful colonizing group. In responding to linguistic, legal, bureaucratic and other constraints against integration with Spanish society, they create networks and structures of self-sufficiency that serve to further isolate them from their hosts. Their marginal or liminal situation is one that is actually valued by most migrants, for it provides them with a degree of protection from official scrutiny, regulation and control and helps sustain their illusions of "escapist Spain" and of "living the holiday." Moreover, as O'Reilly shrewdly observes, their situation is one that is riddled with contradictions:

"They don't integrate, yet say they do, or that their children do. They construct and reconstruct strong community boundaries yet talk of community as if it includes the Spanish as well as other nationalities. They deny their isolation. They live fun and leisured lives, often denying or understating the work that goes into the construction of community. They insist that their lives in Spain are good and that no one ever wants to go home, while individuals are choosing to go home every day. They deny their boredom and suppress their loneliness as this contradicts the image they wish to portray of a happy, friendly and exciting experience."

The analysis of this multi-faceted community is handled deftly throughout, as the author moves easily between "thin" and "thick" levels of description. Her expositon over the book's seven chapters is clear and engaging and she makes excellent illustrative use of extracts from field notes. The introductory chapter explains the research methods employed in the study, outlines prominent themes in the commonsense knowledge about the migrants and suggests links between these themes and certain aspects of contemporary British life. Chapter 2 looks at the various reasons (often post hoc) given by migrants for moving to Spain and places these in their historical and geographical contexts. Here particular attention is paid to the growth of Spanish mass tourism and to the special appeal of coastal resorts for prospective migrants. Chapter 3 briefly reviews some European migration research as a prelude to identifying some important characteristics of the trend of British migration to Spain. The conventional distinction between migrants and tourists is questioned and a set of "ideal types" of British migrants is formulated. Chapter 4 examines the lifestyles of different kinds of migrants and shows how the facts here both challenge and support some of the popular representations outlined at the beginning of the book. The main focus of Chapters 5 and 6 is the migrants' sense of ethnic identity and how this is expressed and sustained through various kinds of informal activities. We see how a symbolic ethnic community is constructed that contrasts with a jaundiced version of "bad Britain" and identifies with an idealized "good Spain." The final chaper - one of the book's strongest - successfully synthesizes and consolidates the various themes and arguments presented previously, leaving no loose ends or nagging inconsistencies to trouble the reader.

As the first major ethnographic study of British migrants in Spain, The British on the Costa Del Sol is to be welcomed for the light it sheds on an important but hitherto poorly researched subject. It is a valuable addition to the literature on ethnicity and European migration, as well as on tourism in its mass and long-stay forms. As a pleasant bonus, it also happens to be a very enjoyable read.

Robert W. Wyllie
Simon Fraser University
wyllie@sfu.ca



		Canadian Journal of Sociology Online September - Octobert 2001 Karen O'Reilly. The British on the Costa Del Sol: Transnational Identities and Local Communities. Routledge, 2000. 187 pp. $39.99 paper (1-84142-047-6), $128.00 cloth (1-84142-048-4) "The British in Spain" has been a topic of considerable interest in Britain, especially during the 1980's and early 1990's, when its treatment in the mass media was typically negative or problem-oriented. Migrants were cast in the role of colonizers creating another Britain away from home and showing little interest in Spanish society and culture; they were also portrayed as naive paradise-seekers facing some of the harsher realities of expatriate existence, such as homesickness, dwindling finances, or health problems; their lives were usually characterized as hedonistic or empty, revolving around endless cocktail parties, excessive consumption of alcohol, or aimless lazing about in the sun. Attention was sometimes drawn to the "criminal element" within the migrant community, as tabloids described the lavish lifestyles enjoyed by ex-criminals or fugitives from the law. Unfortunately, this kind of public attention did not stimulate much systematic scholarly research on the subject. Indeed, as O'Reilly suggests, the largely speculative views of academic researchers tended to reflect and reinforce the popular representations of the migrants in the mass media. As such, they became part of a larger body of "commonsense knowledge" whose main themes, assertions and conclusions are reconsidered in this study of British migrants in Fuengirola, a mass tourist resort on the Costa Del Sol. Primary data for the study were obtained during fifteen months' field research between 1993 and 1994 and in several shorter visits to the area afterwards. Acting as a volunteer in local British associations and employing a flexible investigative approach, O'Reilly succeeds in uncovering a migrant community that is more complex and fluid than that suggested in popular discourse. It includes not only elderly retirees, but also semi-retired younger persons, business owners, tourism industry workers, as well as a few shady characters. Some migrants are full-time residents in Spain, but others return to Britain regularly during the summer months; many are seasonal visitors who spend the winters in Fuengirola, while others, who usually own second homes in the area, make irregular, opportunistic visits several times a year. Despite their relative wealth, the migrants in Fuengirola are a marginal minority rather than a powerful colonizing group. In responding to linguistic, legal, bureaucratic and other constraints against integration with Spanish society, they create networks and structures of self-sufficiency that serve to further isolate them from their hosts. Their marginal or liminal situation is one that is actually valued by most migrants, for it provides them with a degree of protection from official scrutiny, regulation and control and helps sustain their illusions of "escapist Spain" and of "living the holiday." Moreover, as O'Reilly shrewdly observes, their situation is one that is riddled with contradictions: "They don't integrate, yet say they do, or that their children do. They construct and reconstruct strong community boundaries yet talk of community as if it includes the Spanish as well as other nationalities. They deny their isolation. They live fun and leisured lives, often denying or understating the work that goes into the construction of community. They insist that their lives in Spain are good and that no one ever wants to go home, while individuals are choosing to go home every day. They deny their boredom and suppress their loneliness as this contradicts the image they wish to portray of a happy, friendly and exciting experience." The analysis of this multi-faceted community is handled deftly throughout, as the author moves easily between "thin" and "thick" levels of description. Her expositon over the book's seven chapters is clear and engaging and she makes excellent illustrative use of extracts from field notes. The introductory chapter explains the research methods employed in the study, outlines prominent themes in the commonsense knowledge about the migrants and suggests links between these themes and certain aspects of contemporary British life. Chapter 2 looks at the various reasons (often post hoc) given by migrants for moving to Spain and places these in their historical and geographical contexts. Here particular attention is paid to the growth of Spanish mass tourism and to the special appeal of coastal resorts for prospective migrants. Chapter 3 briefly reviews some European migration research as a prelude to identifying some important characteristics of the trend of British migration to Spain. The conventional distinction between migrants and tourists is questioned and a set of "ideal types" of British migrants is formulated. Chapter 4 examines the lifestyles of different kinds of migrants and shows how the facts here both challenge and support some of the popular representations outlined at the beginning of the book. The main focus of Chapters 5 and 6 is the migrants' sense of ethnic identity and how this is expressed and sustained through various kinds of informal activities. We see how a symbolic ethnic community is constructed that contrasts with a jaundiced version of "bad Britain" and identifies with an idealized "good Spain." The final chaper - one of the book's strongest - successfully synthesizes and consolidates the various themes and arguments presented previously, leaving no loose ends or nagging inconsistencies to trouble the reader. As the first major ethnographic study of British migrants in Spain, The British on the Costa Del Sol is to be welcomed for the light it sheds on an important but hitherto poorly researched subject. It is a valuable addition to the literature on ethnicity and European migration, as well as on tourism in its mass and long-stay forms. As a pleasant bonus, it also happens to be a very enjoyable read. Robert W. Wyllie Simon Fraser University wyllie@sfu.ca http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/brits.html September 2001 © CJS Online