Vortrag
‘Ageivism’ and Digital Spaces of Volunteering in East Germany: 1990s to Present

Processes of political and digital transformation have characterised the development of volunteering in East Germany since 1990. On the one hand, more and more older people are getting involved in different areas of volunteer work, and on the other hand, volunteering is becoming increasingly digital. Political action and thus also the shaping of East German societal transformation as well as the opportunities for experiencing self-efficacy are expanding into another space: the digital space. Historically, people have always been motivated to get involved in local communities, but communication in an increasingly interconnected online world and the dissemination of their own ideas and activities to other communities is just as important. Older adults are generally seen as less digitally competent and viewed as left behind when it comes to navigating the web and other digital devices, in contrast to younger generations of “digital natives”. Based on biographies of volunteers in Saxony from 1990 to the present day, we are investigating the phenomenon of ‘ageivism’ (activism in old age) over time and beyond the local space into the digital space. How do digital space and age(ing) co-constitute each other in the lived experiences of older volunteers? What social-spatial, biographical or technical challenges do they encounter when using digital methods? We approach these questions with the help of qualitative analysis methods and show different types of biographical experiences from our current research. The paper relates to Theme 3 of the planned conference: Empirical studies on space and age with different focus points.

The lecture is part of the conference: Crossing Boundaries: Transnational and Transdisciplinary Perspectives on (Re)Configurations of Space in Ageing Societies.