Short Abstract

This workshop explores how an (im)mobility perspective can reveal insights into care in later life and the ways in which moving, staying and being stuck emerge from the conditions under which care is organized and experienced.

Long Abstract

Research on aging and care has often approached later life through concerns about dependency, declining mobility, and the ideal of aging in place. However, this can obscure the spatial and material conditions through which care becomes accessible, as well as the social relations through which it is provided and experienced.

An (im)mobility perspective shifts the focus to how care is shaped by the relationship between ageing bodies and their surroundings. Rather than viewing mobility as an individual capacity or inherent desire, this perspective considers it a situated and relational concept. Neither mobility nor immobility is necessarily desirable or undesirable. For example, staying in one place can foster a sense of autonomy or belonging. Under different circumstances, it may evoke a sense of being stuck. 'Stuckness' does not equate to immobility; rather, it emerges from social relations and material arrangements that restrict the possibilities for staying or moving. A bus route can facilitate healthcare access, whereas its absence can place a burden on families. Telecare can reduce the need for in-person visits while changing perceptions of 'good care' and of how social connections are maintained. While such arrangements can create opportunities for care, they may also lead to dependence, isolation or frustration.

The panel will explore how these conditions of (im)mobility are produced and experienced in later life and what their ambivalence reveals about the organization of care. We invite methodological and theoretical reflections on (im)mobility as a relational and situated process through which possibilities for care are shaped and contested.