Introduction to the group submission: “Silver Linings: Older People Defying Expectations”

Abstract

This group of articles looks at these issues in a variety of contemporary contexts. Robbins-Ruszkowski examines Universities of the Third Age as sites which offer alternatives to dominant discourses about aging in contemporary Poland. The Argentine elders DuBois describes engage in political activism in attempts to alter policies with respect to retirees, but also as an end in itself. Gambold´s study of older women who retire abroad to Mexico and France shows how these women use international retirement as a way to live old age differently. The articles thus describe older people actively engaged in redefining what it means to be old.