The Meaning of Ageing: The Perspective of Ageing Migrant Caregivers in Italy

• In-person event
• A602, Loeb Building, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6

Political Science Speaker Series Presents:

The Meaning of Ageing: The Perspective of Ageing Migrant Caregivers in Italy
Lucrezia Alice Moschetta, University of Padua, Italy

Abstract:

This study investigates the ageing experiences of migrant women caregivers in Italy, who constitute the backbone of the country’s eldercare system. With an average age of 52, and nearly one-third aged 60 or above, many continue to work well past the statutory retirement threshold, often caring for elderly individuals of the same age. This paradox underscores the complex entanglement of migration, care, and later life. Empirically, the analysis draws on 60 in-depth interviews with caregivers aged 59–74, with participants originating from Eastern Europe, the Philippines, and Africa. The study is framed by an intersectional life-course perspective, feminist theories of situated knowledge, and postcolonial critiques of racial capitalism, allowing for a critical interrogation of ageing as a socially situated and culturally mediated process. The narratives of ageing migrant caregivers ultimately expose structural contradictions in Italian care and pension regimes: systems sustained by their labour yet unable to secure them a dignified later life.

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