Chapter 11: The Mobile Life-World Map: A Dialogical Tool for Understanding Expatriates

Signe and Andreas’s situation is common for many expatriates working in foreign countries. The living conditions abroad can be exotic and adventurous, but also challenging and at times grueling. Do to demanding jobs, household obligations and touristic explorations of the host society, not much time is left to initiate contact with the local population. This chapter offers a conceptual tool to understand the actions and experiences of expatriates. I call this tool the Mobile Life-World Map to emphasize its’ broad focus on the lived complexities, practical activities, and everyday sociality among expatriate populations (Jackson, 1996, pp. 7–8). The concept of the map refers to a holistic guideline for the exploration of the landscapes of human life (Morgan, 2000)—or here, expatriate life.