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The rhythm of ageing amongst Chinese elders in sheltered housing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2013

SIEW-PENG LEE
SIEW-PENG LEE*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Siew-Peng Lee, Department of Anthropology, Brunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK. E-mail: siew-peng.lee@brunel.ac.uk
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Abstract

This paper examines how some elderly Chinese tenants in a cluster of housing schemes in the north of England differed in their perception, consciousness and management of time. It examines how there was too much or too little time for some of these tenants and how time played a part in their personal and social identification arising from their experiences of migration. Lefebvre's concept of rhythmanalysis is intended to be a transdisciplinary theory that could be used to theorise ‘everyday life’. The writer superimposes this concept on the activity and disengagement theories of ageing to add meaning to the ethnographic data gathered and argues that ageing is not a simple matter of activity or disengagement. These Chinese elders coped with change through a flexible and ongoing process of adapting to different rhythms of life. This paper aims to contribute to the empirical understanding of ageing for a minority in Britain and to present a novel theoretical perspective on research approaches to ageing.

Keywords

rhythmanalysisHenri LefebvremigrationChinese ethnic minoritysheltered housingactivity theorydisengagement theory
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 34 , Issue 9 , October 2014 , pp. 1505 - 1524
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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