Performing Aging in Post-Soviet Latvia

In this article we explore how people define, evaluate and explain aging in Latvia after more than two decades since the end of the Soviet Union. Our findings result from secondary analysis of 55 semi-structured interviews on the perception of the body and biotechnologies with informants from throughout Latvia. Judith Butler’s concept of identity performance allowed us to interpret the experience of aging identity construction in Latvia by interconnecting bodily experience and discursive categories, and is supplemented by Marilyn Strathern’s theories on the significance of relationships with others. developed by. Aging identity in Latvia and  performance that is evaluated as (dis)respectful and (in) appropriate is defined through involvement in relationships with the self, the family, and the wider community. These findings open up opportunities to widen economics- and demography-driven conceptualisations of aging at the governmental level, and to adjust policy to effectively and respectfully meet people’s needs, as well as to encourage further research on gendered aging strategies, sexuality, local meanings of the morally-charged concept “rūpes” (care).