Ageing and Subjectivity in a Time of ´Multiple Crises´

The early 2020s were marked by exceptional government measures across Europe, Asia, and beyond to contain the COVID pandemic and to protect those parts of the population that were considered most at risk. Especially older adults became the focus of regulatory interventions. During this period, additional burdens, threats, and uncertainties also emerged or intensified, posing further challenges to older adults: high inflation, the energy crisis, global warming, and wars. How are crises experienced and narrated in later life and what role do social relations and the wider cultural and political environment play in this? This is the question we seek to answer in this project by comparing the experience of older adults (70 years and over) in Singapore and in Vienna. Our research focuses on two key questions: 1) How do older adults narratively make sense of and come to terms with the COVID pandemic and other current and earlier crises? 2) How do older adults experience and narrate social relations and how far do the COVID pandemic and other current crises contribute to changes in the character of social relations from intimate to state relations? To answer these questions, the research team will conduct in-depth research (27 months in total) in a retirement home and a senior centre in each of the two cities. Through participant observation and interviews, we will listen to the personal stories of older adults, gaining insight into how they make sense and narrate their experiences of both past and present crises. In addition to these traditional ethnographic methods, we will employ creative and digital methods to capture a fuller picture of their lived realities. The study`s comparative approach is particularly innovative. By examining the experiences of older adults in two distinct cultural and political contexts, we aim to challenge assumptions about ageing and the way crises are navigated. This research will provide new insights into how older people exercise agency and resilience within systems of care and protection. The research team consists of three members. The principal investigator (PI) will supervise the overall project and has expertise in ageing, narrative research, urban anthropology, and digital ethnography. A postdoctoral researcher, specializing in psychological anthropology and narrative analysis, will focus on fieldwork in Austria. The PhD student, with a background in sociology and ageing in Singapore, will conduct the fieldwork in Singapore. The PI will be actively involved at both locations.