The path to happiness? Prosperity, suffering, and transnational migration in Britain and Sylhet

In this article I discuss the relationship between migration and happiness via the life stories of members of a Bangladeshi family who for several generations have been involved in transnational migration between their rural home in Sylhet and a city in Northern England. Rather than to seek definitive answers concerning whether or not migration makes my interlocutors happy-as we shall see, the answers to this are highly subjective and ever changing-my intention is to ask what we might learn about both migration and happiness by considering how journeys purportedly undertaken in order to increase well-being so often lead instead to sadness, loss, and dislocation. In particular, I use Sara Ahmed's framing of "happiness projects" to address the contradictions and ambivalence that lie at the emotional heart of transnational migration.