Daily Activities, Encounters and Vital Engagements
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 April 2026
This chapter approaches the concrete, everyday lives of older persons in the Vineyard region. We examine how people living in towns, in villages, alone or in shared housing, organise their lives. Daily trajectories, typical interactions, everyday encounters are described. The chapter first examines informal encounters and networks, daily interactions, occasional meetings, and the importance of social interactions. Both the role of ‘lighthouse watcher’ and tenuous ties are put to the fore. Second, the chapter follows interactions taking place in an institutional setting, a day-care centre. Here also, people can develop meaningful activities and reveal their engagements, while the frame can offer a containing function. Altogether, this chapter shows how evolving material, social and symbolic environments are deeply related to people’s development in older age.
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