scholarly journals PRODUCTIVE AND ACTIVE RURAL AGING: TOWARD CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S17-S17
Author(s):  
Mark Skinner ◽  
Rachel Winterton ◽  
Kieran Walsh

Abstract Despite global trends in rural population ageing, relatively little attention within research and policy has been directed to understanding what it means for rural people, communities and institutions to be at the forefront of twenty-first century demographic change. To build understanding of rural ageing, this symposium draws together papers from four countries to provide insights in the gaps in rural ageing research – specifically the in context of productive and active rural ageing by examining rural work, retirement and volunteering through the critical perspectives of citizenship, contestation and complexity. Winterton and Warburton will explore how active citizenship trends among rural older adults support or hinder the capacity of rural settings to support health ageing. Colibaba and Skinner will discuss the contestation of rural ageing by examining a volunteer-based rural library and the emergent ‘contested spaces of older voluntarism’ whereby older volunteer negotiate their rights and responsibilities associated with ageing and volunteering in rural communities. Duvvury and Ni Leime will examine the interactions between the twin phenomena of feminisation of agriculture and the feminisation of ageing in the consequent implications for rural women’s work and retirement. Skinner and Joseph offer a critical perspective on voluntarism in ageing rural communities by examining volunteer leadership biographies as another means of understanding the contribution of older rural adults.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S398-S398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran Walsh ◽  
Mark Skinner

Abstract Despite a growing focus on rural ageing, international literature in this field remains underdeveloped in critical and interdisciplinary perspectives. Reflecting traditional divisions across geographic, gerontological and health literatures, how we understand experiences of growing older in rural settings can still be characterised by a narrow, applied approach. This has implications for our capacity to disentangle multifaceted lived realities from rural contexts, and macro socio-economic and structural environments. There then remains questions about the ways in which the study of rural ageing needs to develop to direct policy, research and practice agendas to be a more critical reflection of these complexities. This symposium aims to draw together interdisciplinary critical perspectives on ageing and rurality as a means to advance this development. It will consider different theoretical approaches and major cross cutting challenges in relation to rural ageing. Burholt and Scharf will examine how critical gerontology has raised awareness of the heterogeneity of rural ageing across social justice elements of demography, resources, recognition and representation. Keogh and Walsh address these same elements in relation to the empirical intersection of exclusion and change in the production of a new rurality for older people. Cutchin and Rowles present a pragmatist theoretical perspective to encapsulate the essence of rural integration within an ever-changing milieu. Poulin et al. offer a critical approach to rural gerontological health that emphasizes intersectionality in the formation and development of older adult health. Herron and Skinner explore the intersectional construction of dementia and mental health in rural settings for older adults.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S17-S17
Author(s):  
Rachel Winterton

Abstract Active citizenship is romanticized in policy for its role in keeping older adults healthy, and rural communities sustainable. However, as proportions of older adults resident in rural communities continue to increase, the gerontological literature has begun to highlight challenges associated with both the capacity and desire of rural older adults to be active citizens. Through an integrative review of the international literature, this paper interrogates how active citizenship trends among rural older adults support or hinder healthy aging in rural settings. Findings indicate that active citizenship among older adults can increase rural age-friendliness and facilitate individual wellbeing. However, practices associated with active citizenship among this cohort can disenfranchise certain groups of older adults, through reshaping societal norms relating to citizenship, age-friendliness and rurality. These findings indicate that programs designed to promote active citizenship must both consider, and account for, diverse capacities and desires for active citizenship among rural older adults.


Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Farshad Amiraslani

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has revealed flaws in rural settings where most people live without the necessary tools, income, and knowledge to tackle such unprecedented global challenges. Here, I argue that despite the research studies conducted on rural areas, these have not solved rising rural issues, notably poverty and illiteracy. I propound a global institute to be formed by governments that provides a platform for empowering rural communities through better training, skills, and competencies. Such global endeavour will ensure the remaining rural communities withstand future pandemics if they occur.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 698-698
Author(s):  
Patricia Oh

Abstract Joining the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities does not make a community age-friendly; the age-friendly team must cultivate community engagement, develop collaborations with diverse stakeholders, mobilize resources, and document achievements. Little research describes the tools age-friendly rural communities use to effect change and develop sustainability. Thematic content analysis of 67 interviews conducted between December 09, 2018 and January 24, 2020 with age-friendly leaders in rural Maine communities suggested that peer-to-peer networking, privileging local knowledge, engaging local and regional partners, technical advice from a trusted source, and fun were among the tools used to move age-friendly rural work forward.


2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Pennington ◽  
Channon Horn ◽  
Amy Berrong

Researchers have suggested that educational programming for students with low incidence disabilities in rural settings may be limited. In the current study, researchers surveyed special education teachers across Kentucky and collected demographic data on two exemplar districts. Results indicated that differences existed between urban and rural districts on several variables but that some rural communities in Kentucky were able to overcome barriers to the provision of educational programming for students with low incidence disabilities prevalent in other parts of rural America.


Author(s):  
Roberto Jose Velasquez ◽  
Yadira Juarez

In this chapter, the authors discuss eight types of trauma that Latino children are likely to encounter by residing in rural or geographically-isolated communities. The authors contend that there exist more “rural-specific” types of childhood trauma that Latino children are at-risk for when compared to “urban-specific” types of trauma. For example, Latino children who reside in rural communities are more likely to traumatized by parental deportation, migrating from one town to another because parents follow the harvest, language brokering or translating for their parents, experiencing or witnessing farming accidents, relocating from the city to the country, isolation from extended family, pesticide poisoning of the child or a family member, and living in labor camps or substandard housing. It is important to note that Latino children, like children from other cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds, can experience all types of trauma irrespective of whether they reside in urban or rural settings.


2021 ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Xavier Prats Monné

A European social contract is possible—if the discussion shifts from who has the right to act to who can help. Education is a striking example of Europe’s paradox: the areas that interest its citizens most—education, health, social protection—are those where EU institutions have the least competence. Yet while the main policy responsibility and funding instruments are at national or regional level, the key global trends in education and the reforms they require call for a strong effort from both the EU and its member countries: an extraordinary expansion of the demand for higher education and new skills; a renewed interest in the interaction between technology, education, and society, driven by the advancement of data analysis and artificial intelligence; and a growing concern about the role of education in reducing inequality and social exclusion. Education has a great future—but it will not be education as we know it; the credibility of Europe’s social contract will rest on its capacity to build and communicate the case for change and to articulate a guiding vision for twenty-first-century learning.


Author(s):  
Lise Rakner ◽  
Vicky Randall

This edition examines the changing nature of politics in the developing world in the twenty-first century, with emphasis on the complex and changing nexus between state and society. It analyses key developments and debates, and this is illustrated by current examples drawn from the global South, tackling a range of issues such as institutions and governance, the growing importance of alternative politics and social movements, security, and post-conflict state-crafting. The text also discusses the Arab Spring and South–South relations and offers new case studies of Syria and the Sudan as well as China, India, and Brazil. This introduction considers the question of the meaningfulness of the Third World as an organizing concept, whether politics is an independent or a dependent variable, and a number of major interconnected global trends that have resulted in a growing convergence in the developing world. It also provides an overview of the organization of this edition.


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