Temporal aspects of wellbeing in later life: gardening among older African Americans in Detroit

Abstract

Gardening has well-established physical, social and emotional benefits for older adults in varied circumstances. In Detroit, Michigan (United States of America), as in many cities, policy makers, funders, researchers, community organisations and residents regard gardening as a means of transforming bodies, persons, communities, cities and broader polities. We draw on ethnographic research conducted during one gardening season with 27 older African Americans in Detroit to foreground the social dimensions of wellbeing in later life and thus develop a more robust and nuanced understanding of gardening's benefits for older adults. Based on anthropological understandings of personhood and kinship, this article expands concepts of wellbeing to include social relations across multiple scales (individual, interpersonal, community, state) and temporalities (of the activity itself, experiences of ageing, city life). Even when performed alone, gardening fosters connections with the past, as gardeners are reminded of deceased loved ones through practices and the plants themselves, and with the future, through engagement with youth and community. Elucidating intimate connections and everyday activities of older African American long-term city residents counters anti-black discourses of ‘revitalisation’. An expansive concept of wellbeing has implications for understanding the generative potential of meaningful social relations in later life and the vitality contributed by older adults living in contexts of structural inequality.

Work factors facilitating working beyond state pension age: Prospective cohort study with register follow-up

“…In Denmark, only approximately 20% of working retirees – ie, those having paid work while also receiving pension – work in high-strain jobs. This is less than in many other European countries, eg, 30% in Sweden and between 40–50% in Estonia and Italy ( 4 ). Dingemans & Henkens ( 4 ) characterize high-strain jobs as unfavorable working conditions for older workers, namely full-time work, high physical and mental job demands, and low levels of job control.…”

“…This is less than in many other European countries, eg, 30% in Sweden and between 40–50% in Estonia and Italy ( 4 ). Dingemans & Henkens ( 4 ) characterize high-strain jobs as unfavorable working conditions for older workers, namely full-time work, high physical and mental job demands, and low levels of job control. Their findings for working retirees suggest that participation in high-strain jobs is driven by necessity to a higher degree than participation in low-strain jobs, which is more likely to be a choice.…”

“…The main increase in older workers’ labor market participation has taken place before the state pension age, but working lives are also increasingly extended beyond this age ( 2 ). Extending work life beyond the state pension age can be a choice due to, eg, finding one’s job fulfilling, a necessity arising from lack of income as a retiree, or something in between ( 3 , 4 ).…”

How to adapt caring services to migration-driven diversity? A qualitative study exploring challenges and possible adjustments in the care of people living with dementia

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Putting cumulative (dis)advantages in context: Comparing the role of educational inequality in later-life functional health trajectories in England and Germany

“…Previously, studies testing the CAD hypothesis focused exclusively on one institutional context (e.g., [ 3 – 27 ]). However, a new wave of research [ 28 – 34 ] strengthens the argument that a fourth central principle, namely how country context modifies the way in which CAD processes unfold over time, is needed to further a deeper understanding of CAD as a dynamic, contextualised process within social systems.…”