Micro-Practices of Domestic Living

Abstract

This article presents case studies of older women's survival strategies in domestic settings in the expensive city of Munich, based on ethnographic material from two research projects on women's precarious retirement and the use of technology in old age. The self-care routines developed by the women over time assemble mental strategies and attitudes, bodily practices and socio-material techniques integrated into a specific spatial setting. These routines help them adapt to their physical impairments under multiply precarious circumstances: the pensioners portrayed have limited retirement funds, and thus, cannot afford household assistance or technical aids or even moving to another flat or into assisted living. Delving into private life-worlds and approaching women's perspectives and vulnerable agency, provides fresh insights into the field of private dwellings, often neglected in studies on old age.