| Summary: | The aim of this study is to examine how notions of ageing, old age, life course and a good life is related to old peoples understanding of and their actions about their living situation. Notions, ideals and practices of home, ageing and old age are studied with ethnographic methods and analyzed with Sara Ahmeds phenomenological and queer theoretical tools ”the straight line” and ”orientation” to show how they relate to each other. The empirical material is based on 13 qualitative interviews with 15 persons who are more than 65 years old and live in different housing types in Sweden. The informants understanding of ageing and old age is one focus of the study, and the decision to move or not – and to where – is another. Even the experience of moving to a new place and the experience of elderly care in their home is described. The result shows that the decision of where to live and if, or when, it is necessary to move is often characterized by ambivalence during old age. It is related to two opposite norms about how to act during old age. Old people are expected to move as a preparation for negative changes in health, which follows a normative life course. At the same time, old people are expected to counteract their ageing by trying to stay in their home as long as possible. The event to move during old age can therefore be seen as a part in the process of becoming old. The opposite norms which old people have to relate to makes it difficult for old people to stay oriented. The study also shows that the feeling of home, the experiance of becoming old and orientation to norms affect each other.
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