How do people who are aging under challenging and uncertain life conditions strive to achieve good lives?

This question informs the research project: “Aging as a Human Condition: Radical Uncertainty and the Search for a Good (Old) Life.” There is already burgeoning research on the good life in old age framed as successful, active and healthy aging and critical research on inequality and stigmatization in old age. This project takes a different approach: a comparative project that speaks to broad humanistic concerns and puts philosophy, anthropology and art in dialogue.

The project has explored the experience of old age in local settings in Denmark, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, USA, and among exile Tibetans in India - by comparing four themes central to the experience of aging: the body, intimate others, lived time and home space. The project has sought to provide experience near portraits and theoretical reflections through engaging conversations between ethnographic fieldworks, artistic expressions and philosophical reflections.

The project is funded by the VELUX FONDEN with contributions from Aarhus University and VIVE The Danish Center for Social Science Research. It is organized as a collaboration between eight researchers from Aarhus University, Copenhagen University, VIVE and University of Southern California – and two artists from Australia and Denmark.