What Is the Relationship between Remote Rural Island Place and Perspectives on Ageing of Mid-life Women?

Abstract

This article makes an original contribution to social gerontology and nissology by addressing the knowledge gap on contemporary gendered ageing in remote, rural island places. Drawing on empirical data gathered through in-depth interviews with 12 mid-life (48-69 years old) women living in the Uist islands of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, the relationship between ageing and remote rural island place is examined. Reflecting the participant narratives, this study discusses personal and place identities, while exploring place attachment and its relationship with gendered island ageing. This qualitative work adopts a lifecourse framework in order to acknowledge lived experience and cultural context from childhood to adulthood. Data were gathered and analysed through the prism of constructivist grounded theory, a methodology well placed for exploratory research of topics about which relatively little is known. Rich participant insight and analysis eschew island mono-culturalism, instead extending the discourse around remote rural island ageing as distinct from mainland rural ageing. Empirical data informs substantive theory, and fresh considerations on gendered mid-life ageing and remote island place are offered for academia. Findings from this study indicate diverse relationships between ageing and place amongst mid-life women living in the Outer Hebridean regions of North Uist, South Uist, Benbecula and Berneray. The connection between ageing and island place is experienced through place attachment, and is influenced by a range of socio-economic factors: primarily of relevance to this study is that of the natural environment. Perspectives on ageing reflect lived lifecourse experience and thus vary between those native and non-native to the Outer Hebrides; those who live with a partner or alone; those who have children and those child-free; and between those who enjoy socio-economic stability and those who do not.