Group Ciobanu: Diversity in ageing societies

Goals

Older persons are perceived and portrayed as a homogeneous population, and there is little acknowledgement in policy and even in studies of the internal variability within this group. There are people with an experience of migration, others who have migrated internally within a country, as well as persons who have never moved from some small rural communities, there are varied life courses, all of these leading to distinct situations in old age.

Furthermore, there is a constant increase in the population of older migrants, projections showing that this population will more than double in the next decade. Older migrants are marginal in research both in the field of gerontology and in migration studies.

Considering these shortcomings in scholarship, the research group Diversity in ageing societies has the following aims:

1. Bridge the fields of gerontology and migration / mobility studies
2. Expand the knowledge base on older migrant populations
3. Focus on the heterogeneity of older populations across and within groups
4. Study the elderly in a life-course perspective

To advance knowledge on diversity, we aim to conduct comparative research among different elderly populations. Some examples are the following:

1. Older migrants from different countries residing in the same country of destination
2. Older migrants and older natives in Switzerland
3. Older migrants and those who stayed in the country of origin and did not directly engage in migration

The topics on which research will focus are:

• Transnationalism and mobility and how these are related to vulnerability
• Resilience in elderly populations • Social networks and social support in old age
• Care arrangements in old age
• Loneliness

Methodology

The research conducted in this group has a mixed-methods approach.

First, projects draw on qualitative data, particularly in-depth interviews with various actors.

Second, projects analyse quantitative data, among these the VLV 1 and VLV 2 survey.

Projects

1. Transnational Ageing among Older Migrants and Natives: A Strategy to Overcome Vulnerability (Professorship Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation)
2. Vulnerability in Old Age: A Comparative Approach (Marie Heim-Vögtlin Grant, Swiss National Science Foundation)
3. Ageing Migrants’ Well-being: The Structuring of Local Welfare Provisions at the Intersection of Public, Private, Third Sector and the Family (Marie Curie Intra-European Individual Fellowship, European Commission)

Publications

Ciobanu, R. O., & Fokkema, T. (forthcoming 2019). The role of religion in protecting older Romanian migrants from loneliness. In Ciobanu, R. O., T. Fokkema, & M. Nedelcu, Ageing as a Migrant: Vulnerabilities, Agency and Policy Implications (1st Edition). Oxford: Routledge.

Ciobanu, R. O., Fokkema, T., & Nedelcu, M. (forthcoming 2019). Ageing as a Migrant: Vulnerabilities, Agency and Policy Implications (1st Edition). Oxford: Routledge.

Ciobanu, R. O., Fokkema, T., & Nedelcu, M. (2017). Ageing as a migrant: vulnerabilities, agency and policy implications. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(2), 164–181. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2016.1238903

Ciobanu, R. O., & Hunter, A. (2017). Older migrants and (im)mobilities of Ageing: An introduction. Population, Space and Place, 23(5). doi:10.1002/psp.2075

Ciobanu, R. O., & Fokkema, T. (2017). The role of religion in protecting older Romanian migrants from loneliness. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(2), 199–217. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2016.1238905

Ciobanu, R. O., & Hunter, A. (2017). Guest editors for the special issue “Older Migrants: (Im)mobilities of Ageing”, Population, Space and Place, 23(5).

Ciobanu, R. O., Fokkema, T., & Nedelcu, M. (2017). Guest editors for the special issue “Ageing in a Foreign Country: Vulnerabilities, Challenges and Policy Implications”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(2).

Nedelcu, M., & Ciobanu, R.-O. (2016). Les migrations des Roms roumains en Europe : politiques d’inclusion, stratégies de distinction et (dé)construction de frontières identitaires. Revue européenne des migrations internationals, 32(1), 7–17. doi:10.4000/remi.7549

Nedelcu, M., Ciobanu, R.-O. & de Gourcy, C. (2016). Guest editors for the special issue “Les migrations des Roms roumains en Europe : politiques d’inclusion, stratégies de distinction et (dé)construction de frontières identitaires”. Revue européenne des migrations internationals, 32(1).