Gender and Identity in Oral Histories of Elderly Russian Jewish Migrants in the United States and Canada

Shternshis, Anna

doi:10.1002/9781118320792.ch16

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…One may also expect differences in relation to the whens, whos and hows of the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy. As the present dissertation is interested in the negotiation of the identity categories of old(er) age and 67 The complete list is as follows: Bartholomew 2012, Bolzman et al 2006, Delucchi 1998, Gardner 2002, George & Fitzgerald 2012, Kambar 2013, Kawakami 2012, Maynard et al 2008, Peterson-Veatch 1999, Roberts 2010, Tammeveski 2003, Varverakis 2011 The complete list is as follows : Elias 2005, Feinberg 1996, Li & Chong 2012, Oliver 2011, Remennick 2003, Roberman 2007a, Roberman 2007b, Shternshis 2013, Sokolovsky 2003 migrancy, those included in the sample had to have been living in Sweden for a long time: they had to have had the chance to settle in, get to know Sweden and learn the language in order to ascertain that they had experiences of migrancy to share (see Chapter 5 for more). As will be seen, the sample of the present study includes older migrants who migrated earlier in life (when aged between 15 and 45) and have been living in Sweden for a long time (between 18 and 61 years) (see Table 5.1, Chapter 5).…”

Section: The Sampling Of Older Migrants In Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity, Old(er) Age and Migrancy : A Social Constructionist Len

Machat-From¹

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Identity research in relation to ethnicity and migration has tended to focus on younger people whilst identity research in relation to ageing and old(er) age has not focused on migrants. This inadvertent mutual neglect has led to a lack of identity research that examines the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy together, a lacuna that this dissertation aims to redress. This dissertation departs from a social constructionist understanding of identity as situationally accomplished in the interplay between how one defines oneself (internally) and how others define one (externally). The questions raised by this perspective and addressed in this dissertation are: When (in what situations) and in relation to whom do old(er) age and migrancy (respectively) seem to become meaningful for identification? How do the identity categories of old(er) age and migrancy seem to be negotiated? The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with 24 older migrants (13 men, 11 women) aged between 55 and 79 who have been living in Sweden for 18 to 61 years. Interviewees come from 12 different countries that vary in perceived cultural distance from Sweden. The findings suggest that identifications with old(er) age and migrancy seem to be dynamic and flexible rather than necessarily permanently meaningful, thus gaining meaning in specific situations and in relation to particular Others. External definitions furthermore do not always seem to match with internal ones. Regardless of how old(er) age and migrancy are constructed, they seem to be negotiable. This dissertation thus contributes to identity research by studying old(er) age and migrancy together and furthermore sheds light onto how the social constructionist lens allows us to see variability where stability otherwise would be presumed.

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