Invitation to conference: Grandparenting. Intergenerational relations in consumer society

Even though grandparents play an important role in many families and even though grandparents spend considerable time, energy and money on their grandchildren, little is known about contemporary grandparent/grandchild relations. It is well-documented that grandparents with active contact to their grandchildren live longer, and that children with active contact to their grandparents become more sociable, but still these intergenerational relations have not really caught academic interest in any depth.

Contemporary grandparents’ and grandchildren’s relations are immersed in consumption practices, and consumption is seen as an important lens to study these relations. Grandparent/grandchild togetherness is important for society, for practitioners working with intergenerational relationships and for researchers in topics related to family.

In a one-day conference grandparents’ and grandchildren’s relationship in contemporary consumer society is on the agenda. The conference is aimed at academics, practitioners in non-profit work, public or political organizations and the corporate sector working with grandparents and grandchildren in some capacity or other.

When: September 6, 2019, from 9:30-18:00

Where: Aalborg, Denmark

Programme:

Coffee and registration from 9.30 at Comwell Hotel, White House, Aalborg.

10:00-10:10     Welcome

10:10-11:00     Sara Arber: ‘Middle-class grandparenting and consumption: Hidden norms and Unique
                        Experiences?

11:00-11:45     Shannon Hebblethwaite ‘Negotiating grandparenting: Ambivalence and generativity in family
                        leisure’

11:45-12:15     Coffee and tea

12:15-12:45     Venetia Evergeti and Vicki Harman: ‘Transnational Grandparenting: negotiating relations and
                        consumption practices across national borders’

12:45-13:15     Helene Brembeck: ‘Harry Potter in London: Ethnographic research involving grandparents and
                        grandchildren together’

13:15-14:15     Lunch

14.15-14.45     Margaret Hogg: ‘The interplay of emotions and consumption in the relational identity trajectories of
                        grandmothers with their grandchildren’

14.45-15.15     Malene Gram, Stephanie O’Donohoe, Heike Schänzel, Caroline Marhcant and Anne Kastarinen:
                        ‘Fun time, finite time. Temporal and emotional dimensions of grandtravel experiences’

15:15-15:45     Benedetta Cappellini, Vicki Harman and Michelle Webster: ‘Intensive grandparenting? Exploring
                        changes and continuities in feeding children in the UK’

15:45-16:15     Coffee and tea

16:15-16:45     Malene Gram, Caroline Marchant and Stephanie O’Donohoe: ‘Tensions in intergenerational
                        relationships seen through advertising’

16:30-17:00     Sum up and discussion

17.00-18:00    End of conference – Drinks and snacks

The conference is open, and everyone is welcome to participate, also without presenting. If you wish to participate please sign up before 9 August 2019 by mail: gram@cgs.aau.dk.

The conference is organized by the network on consumption and intergenerational relationships.

For more information contact Malene Gram, gram@cgs.aau.dk.