Paper short abstract:

Based on fieldwork in Sanur and Ubud this presentation explores the everyday experiences of retirees living in Bali, highlighting the tensions that exist between the 'fantasy' and 'reality' of everyday life in the midst of health concerns and an ever evolving tourist industry.

Paper long abstract:

Anthropologists, artists and film makers have long been drawn to the cultural and touristic landscapes of Bali. Increasing numbers of foreign nationals are now settling on the island, transforming host-guest relationships and the meaning of 'local voices' in the context of an ever evolving tourism industry. Based on recent fieldwork in Sanur and Ubud, this presentation provides specific insights into the everyday experiences, relationships and concerns of retirees living in Bali. On one level, this paper highlights the fluid and contested nature of the term 'retirement,' as residents of various age groups draw on a range of symbolic, material and politically-inspired resources to engage with and yet transcend normative frameworks of a supposed post-work life and lifestyle. As I suggest in this paper, what unites fortysomething and eightysomething 'retirees' is a view that retirement represents both a process of withdrawal from a place and not a workplace in 'the West' and reinvention in a supposedly idyllic setting. On a second level this paper highlights the extent to which these residents engage with this 'fantasy' of living in a home with views of rice fields and sacred mountains and the 'reality' of everyday life, motorcycle accidents and poor health care provision in Indonesia. In particular, this paper draws on the everyday relationship between these new hosts in Bali and their life in the midst of an over developed and developing tourist industry that threatens to literally compromise their view and views of a paradise they sometimes call home.