Aging and creativity: the implications of globalization
and transnationalism for our understanding of
communities’ shared values
Sandra Torres, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology & Chair in Social Gerontology
(Uppsala University, Sweden)
&
Guest Professor (NISAL- Linköping University, Sweden)
&
Adjunct Professor in Rehabilitation & Aging
(Oslo & Akerhus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway)
Short presentation at the
AHRC Network Meeting on
July 13th 2012 in Keele, UK.
This presentation will address the
following questions:
• What do we know about different cultures’
understandings of aging?
• How is our understanding of place influence on
communities’ shared values affected by the globalization
of international migration?
• What does all of this suggest about our understanding of
creativity in old age?
Research on understandings of aging
has shown:
•
That there are cultural differences in the way in which aging as a process,
and old age as a stage of life, are understood.
•
•
Some cultures – such as those found in highly industrialized parts of the Western
world – take for granted that aging can be delayed
•
In these parts of the world old age is perceived to be a stage of the lifecourse associated with decline.
Other cultures – such as those found in less industrialized parts of the world and
often in the Eastern parts of the world – regard aging as a process that cannot be
delayed (and one that few would want to delay either)
•
In these parts of the world old age is perceived to be a stage of the lifecourse associated with wisdom and higher status.
•
Research shows also that migration from one place to another (and it is
mostly migration from East to West that has been studied) lead to having
one’s understandings of aging and old age be challenged.
•
These differences are bound to have relevance to the way in which
creativity in old age is understood.
•
BUT, surprisingly enough, there seems to be no research on cultural
understandings of creativity and also on whether or not different understandings of
aging and old age are associated with different understandings of creativity.
“… an adequate understanding of social
life, social relations, identity and
experience can no longer be derived
from an analysis limited in scope to
‘society’, particularly when the latter is
conceptualized as equivalent to the
geopolitical order of the modern nationstate” (Smart 1993: 135).
Globalization challenges, in other words, the way in
which we conceive culture (and its relationship to place
and community) because:
•
the equation ’national location’ = ’easily discernable cultural
values’ is no longer as straightforward as it used to be
•
studying the ’national’ by going to ’a specific locality’ is
becoming more difficult
•
culture homogeneity within national boundaries can no
longer be taken for granted
•
inter-cultural differences are not as easily tangible
•
intra-cultural differences are becoming augmented
•
making cross-cultural comparisons is becoming more
difficult
“the autonomy and boundness
of cultures must nowadays be
understood as a matter of
degree” (Hannerz 1992: 261).
What does the globalization of int’l.
migration mean?
• The migration stock (world-wide) has increased dramatically
over the past decades.
– 75 million people migrated in 1965
– 120 million in 1990
• Int’l. migration flows have changed the ethnic composition of all
highly industrialized societies.
• Social scientists have therefore started to understand that int’l.
migration is a social phenomenon they need to reckon with
• Among the new tendencies we are observing we find:
– The feminization of migration
– The differentiation of migration
• Larger variation in migration motives and types of migration patterns
• Larger number of older people that migrate.
migration plays namely “a key part in most
contemporary social transformations. Migration is
both a result of global change and a powerful
source for further change in migrant-sending and
receiving-societies. Its immediate impacts are felt
on the economic level, but it also affects social
relations, culture, national politics and
international relations. Migration inevitably leads
to greater ethno-cultural diversity within nationstates, transforming identities and blurring
traditional boundaries” (Castles 2000: 124).
“it’s not just that, increasingly, many
people have no roots; it’s also that
they have no soil” (King 1991: 6).
Globalization challenges the way in which we
think about migration because:
•
Assumptions re: ’sending’ and ’receiving’ countries are no longer as
useful
•
The distinction between ’permanent’ and ’temporary’ settler is becoming
obsolete
•
The differences between ’immigrants’ and ’refugees’ are no longer as
clear-cut
•
The phenomenon of transnationalism is no longer rare
•
a new ’kind’ of migrant has been created (i.e. transnational
migrants)
•
Transnational lifestyles are characterized by:
•
The hybridization of culture
•
The ’Here-or-There’ has been replaced with ’Here-and-There’
•
Either-Or’ has been replaced with ’Both-And’
“Over the next three decades, if we are to
understand the material, social and welfare
circumstances of (older) people, it will
increasingly be necessary to have
knowledge of their biographies or
individual life courses, for neither their
country of residence nor their birth dates or
last occupation will be as reliable
predictors of their social and experiential
positions as they were in the recent past”
(Warnes 2006: 217)
What does this means for the study of
creativity in later life?
•
Cultural values are bound to have impact in the way in which
creativity in old age is understood and also on the creative
practices on which people engage.
–
•
Migrant populations should not be disregarded as we embark on
studies of creativity in old age.
–
–
–
•
These populations are interesting sources of information about different
understandings of creativity in later life,
Migrants’ creative practices may also be different
Hence that both the WHAT of creativity and the HOW of it could be
interesting to explore from the perspectives that migrants offer.
The hybridity of culture (and the being-in-between cultures)
mentioned earlier challenges understandings of constructs that
are key to our understanding of aging (such as well-being, QoL,
life satisfaction and successful aging)
–
•
But the impact may not necessarily be as clear-cut as we may imagine.
There are namely degrees of cultures as Hannerz has shown.
Understandings of creativity in old age as well as creative practices may also
be challenged by this hybridity.
Our understandings of culture’s implications for creativity need
therefore to take into account the way in which the globalization of
international migration is challenging how we think about place
and community.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!!