The over-all purpose of this project is to explore how the migratory life course of refugees affects the experience of aging and what is specific about refugees’ aging.
This is a sociological study which is situated in the intersection between social gerontology and migration studies. Migration and life-course, and refugees and aging, are untapped research territories both empirically and theoretically. Refugees are a blind spot in social gerontology, and aging is the blind spot in migration studies.
This is an article-based dissertation which will be compromised of three articles.
One article will focus on the older refugees' ideas of what good old age is and how and where they believe it is best achieved. The second article will investigate the older refugees' different adaption strategies to old age in the host country. The third article will explore the kin work and emotional work the older refugees perform in order to maintain transnational family relations, in particular with remaining family members in Somalia.
