Leisure among Retired Immigrants in Europe

The ethnic mixture in Europe has been changing rapidly since the end of World War II. The Netherlands is one of those European countries, which has been affected significantly by a large number of ethnic immigrants - largely from Turkey, Morocco, Indonesia and the Dutch Antilles. The first generation of these historically recent immigrants is now reaching retirement age. With their greying, the question of how these people spend their free time arises. The fact that they are largely spending their retirement years in the place of immigration, rather in their homelands, makes their leisure patterns an important and interesting subject for research. The present study focuses on one specific subgroup of Dutch retirees, that is, on mixed race people originating in the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) who were not born in the Netherlands. Their situation is relevant to other immigrant groups in the Netherlands, as well as to those in other European countries. Thus, the study centres on whether the leisure activities of retired Indos are a way for them to keep healthy mentally and physically, thereby leading to satisfaction with life.

Autorentext

Henny N. Edelman is an applied sociologist with MSc in Leisure & Environment from Wageningen University & MA in Labor & Employment Relations from the University of Cincinnati. David Edelman, FAICP Eur Ing SIA/KIVI NIRIA is Professor of Planning at the University of Cincinnati & a practicing planner with MRP & PhD degrees from Cornell University.