An ethnography of care: The example of three elderly women in Kypseli

Abstract

Margarita, Aspasia and Toula are three friends who live in Kypseli. Although different from each other, all of them are over 65 years old, widows, and they all frequent the Friendship Club in their neighborhood. Through the example of these three women, this ethnographic research paper attempts to highlight the role of elderly women in Greece today as caregivers and at the same time as people in need of care. Therefore, following a cultural-phenomenological approach, the paper first explores how elderly women perform(ed) the role of caregivers and how they feel that they themselves need care in return at this moment of their life. Secondly, the paper explores how public space - in this case of Kypseli - relates to the activities of caregiving and affects women’s bodies. These two aspects are analyzed in the light of affect. The paper is based on fieldwork conducted at the Kypseli Friendship Club (Kiou) over a period of six months, from September 2022 to February 2023, as part of the project «Athens: City for all ages» of the research group «Urbana». The methodology includes participatory observation, exploratory walks, semi-structured interviews and a literature review.