Unsettling aging futures: Challenging colonial-normativity in social gerontology

May Chazan

doi:10.3384/10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.19454

Abstract

This article explores the stories of two women activists, both in their mid to later lives, both grandmothers, and both Indigenous to what is now Canada. Both women participated in intergenerational storytelling research in 2017, as part of a multiyear (2016–2020) oral history project. The article brings their stories into dialogue with critical writings on “successful aging” discourse and notions of “happy aging futures” while also reaching beyond gerontology to examine related work by Indigenous scholars in other fields. In doing so, it challenges the ongoing colonial-normativity of interrelated gerontological conceptualizations of generativity and futurity, building on existing efforts to queer and crip these concepts. It ultimately contributes to efforts to understand complexity among multiple aging experiences, opening possibilities of livable and positive futures among those who do not identify with dominant images of wealthy, physically fit older couples with grandchildren.

Highlights

This article explores the stories of two women activists, both in their mid to later lives, both grandmothers, and both Indigenous to what is Canada
I bring their stories into dialogue with critical social gerontological writings on aging futures while reaching beyond scholarship on aging to examine related work by Indigenous scholars in other fields, to explore how close listening to Indigenous perspectives might challenge and extend the interrelated concepts of generativity and futurity as these are typically understood within gerontology
What follows in this article is: first, I outline my project and its methodology; I outline the existing literature to further explain the project of queering/cripping aging futures and I draw in Indigenous scholarship from outside of gerontology as critical intervention into core concepts and assumptions; and I return to the words and stories shared by Caskanette and Beeds, bringing these into conversations with key ideas and interventions outlined from the literature

Summary

Introduction

This article explores the stories of two women activists, both in their mid to later lives, both grandmothers, and both Indigenous to what is Canada. In this article I extend Sandberg’s and Marshall’s important work – unsettling the project of queering/cripping aging futures by engaging centrally with Indigenous and decolonial perspectives.7

Results

Conclusion