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Between loneliness and belonging: narratives of social isolation among immigrant older adults in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2020

Sharon Koehn Open the ORCID record for Sharon Koehn [Opens in a new window] ,
Ilyan Ferrer  and
Shari Brotman
Sharon Koehn*
Affiliation:
Gerontology Department, Simon Fraser University-Vancouver, Vancouver, Canada
Ilyan Ferrer
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Shari Brotman
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Research points to a higher risk for social isolation and loneliness among new immigrant and refugee older adults. Our article draws from a research project that explored the everyday stories of ageing among 19 diverse immigrant older adults in Canada. To capture their experiences of loneliness and social isolation, we use four illustrative cases derived from a structural approach to life-story narrative. To these we apply the intersectional lifecourse analytical lens to examine how life events, timing and structural forces shape our participants’ experiences of social isolation and loneliness. We further explore the global and linked lives of our participants as well as the categories of difference that influence their experiences along the continua of loneliness to belonging, isolation to connection. Finally, we discuss how an understanding of sources of domination and expressions of agency and resistance to these forces might lead us to solutions.

Keywords

immigrant older adultsCanadasocial isolationlonelinesssocial connectionintersectional lifecourselife-story narrative
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 5 , May 2022 , pp. 1117 - 1137
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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