An interpretive approach to knowledge production acknowledges the potential for human beings to perceive social phenomena differently over time, and the potential for individual researchers to come up with new interpretations that lead to new questions and new suggestions. Consistent with this approach, rather than privileging one theoretical approach, method or author over others, I have sought cross-fertilisation from several related paradigms that appeared relevant and useful for theorising the marginalised perspectives of older women. The resulting framework reflects a dynamic relationship between structural factors,
environmental influences and the life-course, whereby individuals have been constituted as active agents in their own lives (Hendricks, 1996). The framework provides a foundation for understanding and interpreting the housing experiences of older women who live alone, as issues of governmentality and gender which have come into existence within the context of broader socio-structural influences. I chose an interpretive approach as the approach best suited to giving older
women a voice; and enable me to bridge the gap between lived experiences and policy discourses25. Although others have studied the housing experiences of
older women before, and many more will do so in the future, I begin my
consideration of the theoretical framework by acknowledging that all researchers endeavouring to make sense of the social world do so from a specific location within time and space. They do so from within a particular theoretical tradition and from a perspective informed by personal experiences. These combined perspectives contribute to the creation of a unique lens that shapes how the
25 Policy discourses are used here refer to spoken or written communication or debate about issues engaged in
by people who work in a given area (such as housing and aged care), and where the focus is on actual or desired policy responses that are designed to address such issues.
69
phenomena of interest will be perceived and the sense that I will make of the findings in the analysis and write up.
An interpretive approach accepts that others who read this thesis may view these phenomena through a somewhat different lens and bring different perceptions, interpretations and conclusions that may be equally valid, or, as Davies and Davies (2007) have said:
Life continues to unfold in the accounting of it, and the account-making is, in that sense, always a new event, or a new experience … This openness to and awareness of movement, rather than fixity, potentially brings with it an open- ness to difference, to movement, to new ways of thinking.
Within a world of varied and changing perspectives there are some certainties. No researcher seeking to produce knowledge about the social world can legitimately claim to be doing work that is theory-free, whether or not the theoretical
underpinnings are made clear (Rice and Ezzy, 1999). Social research is a cultural and time-bound practice that draws upon and is embedded in shared academic and cultural traditions. It involves the development of shared understandings about what constitutes knowledge and how people come to know about the social world. I found identifying a theoretical framework for this study challenging because no suitable framework existed ready to be adopted and applied to the topic as a whole. It involved work, risk and sacrifice to discover and choose from amongst an array of possibilities.
Communication is an interactive process. What I write cannot be interpreted adequately without the reader understanding the perspective from which I am communicating and the meanings I am giving to the words I use. Without the constraints introduced by a clarification of my theoretical position and concepts, the study would be open to criticism on the grounds that it lacked rigour. In undertaking this study, I have drawn on my knowledge and experience from twenty years‘ working within the Tasmanian public sector, primarily in social housing. These influences include my work on housing options for older people
70
with the Independent Housing Group (Forbes, 2000; Forbes and Holford, 2000), and my Churchill Fellowship study trip on the application of age-integrated cohousing for older people (Forbes, 2002).
I began this study with two assumptions, that housing and living environments make an important contribution to the health and wellbeing in older age, and that the voices of older women have been marginalised in the policy debate on
population ageing and housing. I have come to the study with the assumption that limited attention has been paid to issues that older female residents have
identified as important, or to their perspectives on possible solutions.
In articulating the theoretical framework I have paid attention to the meanings of words and concepts, and how language is used. Attempting to communicate through ordinary written language involves risk because commonly used words are subject to varying definitions and interpretations over time. Some words are similar in meaning or appear similar, while the same words can be given different meanings, depending on the context or school of thought. It is tempting and feels natural to use words with similar meanings interchangeably; however,
inconsistencies in definition are a recurring issue for social researchers, including in the areas of ageing, housing and gender. For the sake of clarity, I have avoided assumptions that the reader will share my understanding of the words and concepts I have used. Instead, I have explained concepts in the introduction and have defined them in a glossary and I have tried to use words and concepts consistently.
In considering the implications of language, I have tried to avoid using
stigmatising words and jargon. Words and how they are used have implications for the findings and their interpretation, not only because language has subtly shifting meanings, but also because language can have political overtones and can privilege some voices while marginalising others. So, I have considered the
political implications of language when choosing what words and concepts to use. I have avoided words and concepts that carry negative associations with ageing and gender or I have placed them in context and have used them with caution.
71
The slipperiness of language in part relates to the abstract nature of many terms. When writing or talking in academic terms people tend to describe abstractions as if they possess tangible form, as if they inhabit spaces and bear a spatial and temporal relationship to each other. Boundaries are imagined as if they delineate spaces inhabited by ‗schools of thought‘. When I describe my position, I imagine myself inhabiting a place or a space, as though I was about to embark on a journey of discovery through time and space. I imagine myself standing on the firm
ground of academic tradition, looking upwards and outwards through an interpretive lens that appears to provide the best available approach to investigating the phenomenon of interest, and expanding the boundaries of
knowledge on how to improve the housing, health and wellbeing of older women. The act of writing in abstract terms about imagined realities is a form of mimetic exchange with the world; a form of imitation or mimicry by which an
anthropologist might seek to understand and describe the ways of other cultures. Paradoxically, by engaging in abstractions I have risked making an ‗other‘ out of, or distancing myself from those being studied (Taussig, 1993). When writing ‗about‘ a particular topic of interest it is not my intention to represent these
people, things, ideas or experiences as themselves directly. My aim is to portray or reflect these phenomena in ways that others who come from similar theoretical frameworks can relate to and understand, so that my observations, interpretations and reflections are meaningful. The elusive and risky task of writing about my perceptions of older women‘s reminiscences and reflections upon their housing experiences will have meaning primarily for an audience that shares my
understandings of the abstractions I have used to represent these issues.