Migration as Living Between Loss and Possibility: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experience of Middle-Aged Iranian Migrant Women Abstract



The present study aimed to explore the lived experiences of middle-aged Iranian immigrant womens and to uncover the meaning-making processes through which they experience migration as a simultaneous encounter with loss and possibility. This qualitative study was conducted using a descriptive phenomenological approach. Participants included 15 middle-aged Iranian immigrant women residing in Canada who were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and continued until meaning saturation was achieved. Data analysis was carried out using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method. To ensure trustworthiness, Lincoln and Guba’s criteria (credibility, confirmability, transferability, and dependability) were applied. Based on the systematic analysis of the interview data, 287 initial meaningful statements were extracted. These statements were organized into 59 sub-themes and finally structured into 7 main themes. The core theme that emerged was “living between loss and possibility.” The seven main themes comprised: the existential experience of migration, living with loss, rebuilding life from scratch, reconstructing the self, migration as a realm of possibilities, re-meaning life, and strategies for standing firm in life. Participants described migration as a profound existential transition marked by rupture from the familiar world, rootlessness, loss of social roles and support networks, homesickness, and family-related guilt, while simultaneously opening opportunities for identity reconstruction, greater security, freedom of choice, and redefinition of homeland and life meaning. Through strategies such as focusing on the reasons for migration, language learning, cultural acceptance, rebuilding social networks, and integrating Iranian and host identities, they sought to create a new coherence between past and present. The findings indicate that the lived experience of middle-aged Iranian immigrant women constitutes a dialectical process in which loss and possibility coexist, and continuous meaning-making and identity reconstruction enable individuals to live productively between what has been left behind and what may still be created.

Migration has evolved from a primarily demographic or economic phenomenon into one of the most complex human experiences of the contemporary world, crossing not only geographical borders but also boundaries of identity, culture, emotion, and meaning. This complexity intensifies when migration occurs in midlife—a stage typically marked by relative stability in occupational, familial, social, and identity domains. For middle-aged women, migration often entails simultaneous experiences of loss and new possibilities, requiring profound rethinking of self, relationships, and future. Despite growing research on migration, much of the existing literature focuses on measurable outcomes such as mental health, adaptation stress, or economic consequences, while the lived meaning of migration for the migrants themselves—particularly middle-aged Iranian women—remains underexplored. Iranian cultural contexts, with strong emphasis on extended family, kinship ties, attachment to homeland, language, collective memory, and social networks as integral to meaning and identity, further distinguish this experience. This study aimed to explore and understand the lived experience of migration among middle-aged Iranian migrant women and to develop a conceptual understanding of this phenomenon. A qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach was employed. Participants were selected through purposive sampling from middle-aged Iranian women who had migrated from Iran, with at least ten years of residence in the destination country (Canada), the ability to articulate personal experiences, and willingness to participate. Sampling continued until meaning saturation was reached, resulting in 15 participants aged 47–66 years (mean age 56.6). Data were collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 70 minutes on average. Interviews explored the decision to migrate, post-migration feelings and perceptions, encounters with the new environment, personal and identity changes, opportunities and difficulties, and coping strategies. Data analysis followed Colaizzi’s descriptive phenomenological method, involving repeated reading of transcripts, extraction of significant statements, formulation of meanings, organization into themes, and validation through participant feedback. Trustworthiness was ensured through Lincoln and Guba’s criteria of credibility, confirmability, transferability, and dependability, including member checking and peer review of analysis. Analysis of 287 significant statements yielded 59 sub-themes organized into seven main themes under the core overarching theme of “living between loss and possibility.” The first main theme, the existential experience of migration, encompassed rupture from the familiar lived world, entry into an unfamiliar realm of unknowing, feelings of rootlessness and lack of existential anchorage, living on the margins of the host society, existence between two worlds without full belonging to either, and the gradual process of rebuilding life as a form of rebirth. The second theme, living with loss, included enduring loneliness from severed long-standing relationships, persistent nostalgia for homeland, family, and past, loss of established social roles and support networks, guilt over inability to care for aging parents, and disorientation in facing new realities. The third theme, rebuilding life from scratch, involved language acquisition as a gateway to the new society, learning formal and informal social rules, adapting to the destination culture, starting over professionally and educationally, and revalidating prior academic and occupational capital in a competitive labor market.

The fourth theme, reconstructing the self, highlighted tensions between prior and emerging identities, oscillation between acceptance and resistance to change, discovery of previously unknown capacities, simultaneous experiences of growth, exhaustion, and vulnerability, and shifts in self-perception and self-efficacy. The fifth theme, migration as a realm of possibilities, captured access to more equitable professional opportunities, experience of social and administrative order and efficiency, psychological security and predictability, greater freedom of choice and expression, motivation for personal growth, and improved quality of life and services. The sixth theme, re-meaning life, involved redefining the concept of homeland, accepting the simultaneity of loss and opportunity, changing the meaning of success, reordering life priorities, and integrating suffering with achievements. The seventh theme, strategies for standing firm in life, included maintaining focus on the original reasons for migration, persistent language learning, active acceptance of cultural differences, rebuilding social support networks, learning from earlier migrants, preserving emotional and cultural ties to the homeland, adopting a future-oriented outlook, and integrating Iranian and host-society identities. These findings demonstrate that migration in midlife for Iranian women is not a linear process of departure and adaptation, nor reducible to success versus failure. It is a paradoxical, dialectical experience in which loss of the familiar world, relationships, roles, and prior meanings coexists with opportunities for self-reconstruction, security, freedom, and new horizons. Participants actively engaged in meaning-making and identity negotiation, employing strategies that restored a sense of agency and coherence. The core theme of “living between loss and possibility” captures this ongoing tension and negotiation. The study contributes to filling a gap in the literature on the existential dimensions of midlife migration among Iranian women and underscores the need for support interventions that address identity reconstruction, meaning-making, and psychological resources rather than focusing solely on practical adaptation skills. Future longitudinal and comparative research could further illuminate the temporal evolution of these experiences across different destination contexts and migration pathways.