Eldership

by Maya Beauvineau

Why did I choose “eldership”?

When I was eight years old, I lived in a small village in the South of France called “Le Hameau des Buis.” The village was centered around a school, with the intention of fostering intergenerational relationships between children and elderly villagers. At the school, half of each day was committed to school work, including math and writing, and the other half of each day was spent doing workshops led by people from the village. Some of my favorite memories are making goat cheese and paper maché art alongside elders from the village. This experience opened my eyes to the importance of intergenerational relationships for the transfer of knowledge, skills, and culture.

In my own family, I look to my grandparents as sources of family tradition, guidance, and care. However, I also recognize that in western cultures, there exists a perception that the elderly are a burden to society and a hindrance to progress. I chose to explore the keyword “eldership” to seek to understand, through conversations with peers from diverse backgrounds, what commonalities and differences surface in the consideration of the role of elders and how this role is maintained and passed between generations.

Why a video compilation?

I wanted to interact with my peers and bring light to the wealth of knowledge we all hold through our own experiences. Our NAIS 8 class had people from many different backgrounds and cultures—Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Through the video project, I aimed to bring into conversation these diverse perspectives through reflection on the common theme of “eldership.”

What were some challenges to this approach?

I initially was wary of defining a manageable scope for the project. I wanted to do justice to the term “eldership” and properly share my classmates’ experiences, while maintaining concision in the final video. A conversation with a friend and fellow classmate helped me design interview questions which opened enough space for students to take the question in whatever direction they saw fit, while also maintaining a manageable scope. These questions included: What are a few words that come to mind when you think of “elders”? Would you like to elaborate on why these words come to mind, and/or share a story about an elder in your life? And, when does one become an elder and how is the role of eldership passed from generation to generation?

I felt some pressure to incorporate my outside sources into this project, and initially felt confused on how to do so beyond the traditional academic essay. Through conversations with Matt, I reaffirmed the value and importance of the video, and he encouraged me to consider what form of written elaboration would best engage future students. In this way, I recognized that success in this project was to encourage reflection on “eldership” amongst future students, rather than to analyze and contextualize the video which could risk detracting from the inherent depth of my peers’ perspectives.

Technical challenges are real! Though I had access to great technology from the Jones Media Center, my amateur film skills shone through. I recorded in a location with a loud background hum, I filmed without a microphone (because the one I had wasn’t working), and the background of the shot changed with each interview, which detracted from the quality of the final product. Through video editing, I was able to reduce the background hum, but in the future I will certainly be more mindful of my set-up.

Through editing, I reduced fifty minutes of footage into a nine-minute final video. I felt responsible for correctly portraying my peers’ intended messages, while also creating a cohesive flow. It was challenging to know what content to keep and what to remove. I would have liked to include more content about the challenges facing the intergenerational transfer of knowledge, especially as this came up in several interviews. However, I decided to cut out these segments because they didn’t fit into the scope of the project. To address this challenge, I found it important to keep all of the footage and to not be afraid to cut out segments. It was helpful to make multiple versions of the final video in order to play around with dramatic changes, while knowing I could revert to a previous version if I desired.

Further reading on eldership and intergenerationality

I consulted a series of sources which helped me formulate my guiding questions for this project and that have helped me think more deeply about the complexities of eldership. Here, I list a few I found most helpful:

Wallis, Velma. Two Old Women. New York. HarperCollins. 1993. This book is a written rendition of a story passed through generations of Gwich’in People. The story follows two old women as they endeavor to survive, after being left behind by their people during a difficult, cold winter. The story is relevant to the keyword “elder,” as it explores the complexity of elders both offering cultural wisdom and guidance, while also requiring more care from the community.

Ratana (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangiwewehi), K. (2022). Kei hea au e tū ana? Reflections on a journey. In L.T. Smith (Author), Indigenous Women’s Voices: 20 Years on from Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies (pp. 89–106). London: Zed Books. Retrieved February 24, 2024, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350237506.ch-005. Ratana explores her experience of navigating the bridge between Indigenous and western ways of knowing, as a Maori scholar in the structure of western academia. Ratana points to the importance of older generations’ intentions and encouragement for the effective passage of knowledge between generations. Specifically, she acknowledges the loss of cultural knowledge her parents experienced due to colonial systems, yet she emphasizes the importance of her parents’ encouragement for her journey to restore her knowledge of Maori culture and language.

Rowe, G., Straka, S., Hart, M., Callahan, A., Robinson, D., & Robson, G. (2020). Prioritizing Indigenous Elders’ Knowledge for Intergenerational Well-being. Canadian Journal on Aging, 39(2), 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0714980819000631. This study, conducted by a mixed “Cree/settler” research team, argues that, in recognition of the devastating impacts of colonialism on Indigenous knowledge and members of the elderly population, today, Indigenous elders must prioritize the restoration of their cultural knowledge in order to maintain and fulfill their role as an elder. The study is centered on interviews with Cree elders which was helpful for understanding their perspectives on the role of eldership. This said, it is important to recognize the unique and situational nature of these perspectives: the conclusions are not meant to presume the perspectives of all Indigenous elders.