ABSTRACT

This book demonstrates how the largely neglected and multifaceted concept of distance can be used as a primary lens to expand and enrich our understandings of what older people say about their lives, needs and wishes in diverse surroundings in the Northern periphery and beyond.

It asks how physical, social and emotional distances shape older people’s everyday lives and practices. Contributions from leading experts provides interdisciplinary investigations into the experiences and stories of older people in the Northern periphery. These insights demonstrate the utility of the concept, distance, when reflecting on the central aspects of contemporary ageing societies. The book explores key themes such as care, age politics, technology, intergenerational relations and migration, providing perspectives that are applicable across a variety of international geographical contexts.

This innovative book offers a valuable theoretical and methodological contribution with critical new perspectives on ageing in relation to distances. It will be of interest to students and scholars interested in sociology, human geography, health and social care, ageing and gerontological studies, gender studies and Arctic studies.

chapter 1|8 pages

Introduction

The multiple meanings of distance and the centrality of the periphery

part I|58 pages

Older people's stories of geographic, social and emotional distancing

chapter 102|19 pages

Migrating concepts of ageing

A case study of older Russian-speaking women in Finland

chapter 3|17 pages

Narrated social distance

Generational ties

part II|58 pages

Distance and digitalization in the time of COVID-19

chapter 685|19 pages

Distances and sense of belonging

Older people in Finnish Lapland and digital communication technologies

chapter 6|18 pages

Behind the mask in Covid time

Perspectives of nurses and older people in rural Iceland

part III|63 pages

Older people's rights and equity in Nordic Arctic communities

chapter 1268|17 pages

Voice, accommodation and distance

How politics invade older people's experiences of home care in the Nordic North

chapter 11|6 pages

Epilogue

The many dimensions and shifting qualities of distance