The role of the elderly as portrayed in childhood reminiscences

Authors

• Sinikka Vakimo Itä-Suomen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33350/ka.80152

Keywords:

childhood reminiscence, old people, 1950-1960s, growth environment, countryside, social interaction, oral history, affect

Abstract

This article looks at written reminiscences by elderly people currently living in the Helsinki metropolitan area, talking about their childhood in country villages during the 1950s and 1960s. The article asks how, in their childhood, were the elderly present in a child’s growth environment and in social interaction characterized by social transformation and migration from rural to urban areas. Written childhood narratives are viewed from the perspectives of affect-theory and oral history methodology. The article observes affective descriptions and subtle emotions which give meaning to the elderly through remembered physical encounters and active interaction. In the reminiscences, grandparents are seen as the most important adults who created security, gave a helping hand in the childhood family and sometimes offered the intimacy and attention the child craved. Memories through the eyes of a child highlight emotional tones, whereas concrete education, maxims and shared activities receive less attention. In addition to grandparents, the article also discusses elderly relatives and other old villagers, whose role in the growth environment of children remains largely unstudied. Their presence in the everyday lives of children has also been important. These elderly people are seen as a kind of cultural model of how to live one’s life and how to take care of each other in a community in a post-modern society as well.