Torn between two worlds: Unsettled sense of place and belongingness between old and new homelands during a global pandemic

Growing evidence from countries in the global North and South indicates that a disproportionately high number of migrants are being physically and emotionally, economically and socially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the everyday experiences of living in the time of a global pandemic is not the same for everyone. There is an emerging scholarship that argues that to understand the dissimilar impacts of COVID-19 on migrants, it is necessary to take into account their specific social situations across diverse contexts. Reflecting critically on our experiences of living through the pandemic as first-generation aspirational immigrants in Australia, in this paper we highlight the struggles and vulnerabilities in the time of COVID-19 specific to the context of newly arrived immigrants from the global South to the North. We will discuss how our senses of place and belongingness between old and new homelands have become unsettled as we endeavour to make our new home in Australia while at the same time managing caring responsibilities for our elderly parents in our old homeland, Bangladesh, a country that has largely failed to ensure care for elderly people during this pandemic. The anxieties of losing loved ones to COVID-19 in Bangladesh combined with the growing insecurities of making a foothold in the shrinking labour market in Australia have become part of our everyday lives. As we juggle and struggle between the two homes, we increasingly recognise that people with multiple belongingness, particularly recent immigrants from the global south, might experience unique vulnerabilities that warrant attention of researchers, practitioners and policymakers