Leonie Kellaher
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Director, Centre for Environmental Studies in Aging+44 (0)207 133 5082 |
- The environments in which old people live; residential homes, domestic and neighbourhood.
- Environments and the construction of identity in later life
- The meaning and place of cemeteries for multicultural families
- Ritual practices and new modes of disposal after death.
- Older people and the quality of life
The many environments in which older people live - the built, the natural and organisational - have set the contexts for the centre's research since the 1980s. Research concentrated on special settings such as residential homes, and the mechanisms that regulate and shape them. More recently new funding and methodological opportunities have allowed a more fine-grained concentration of the everyday lives of older people. This has made possible the exploration of ordinary, domestic settings in which most older people live out their lives. Recent collaborative research with colleagues at the Open University and UCL - with EPSRC and ESRC funding - has examined the significance of domestic and neighbourhood environments on the construction and maintenance of identity in later years. The importance of urban, cultivated and natural environments for older people has been brought into focus in CESSA's ESRC-funded research on the meaning and place of cemeteries for multi-cultural London families at the end of the 20th century. This research will be extended through another ESRC funded study of new ritual practices linked with new modes of disposal after death, the domestic setting and older people and their 'life qualities', with links to Cities projects on urban living and 'mixed-use'.
Current/recent projects and awards
- ESRC Environments and Memory: Traditional cemeteries and new disposal trends, with the University of Sheffield (J. Hockey)
- European Science Foundation European Dimensions of Changing Retirement: The Life Experiences of Older People Living Abroad (including migrant elders ageing in Northern European Cities: London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Stockholm)
- ESRC Cross-Cultural Use of Cemeteries and Burial Grounds
- ESRC Environment and Identity in Later Life: A Cross-setting Study, with the Open University
Publications
Journal articles
- (2007) Of Grief and Well-being: Competing Conceptions of Restorative Ritualization, Journal of Anthropology & Medicine, 14(1): 1-14 (with Jenny Hockey and David Prendergast)
- (2007) La cremation et le devenir des cendres. J. Hockey, L. Kellaher & D. Prendergast. Ethnologie Francaise, XXXVII, 2007, 2, p 295 - 304.
- (2006) Blowing in the wind? Identity, materiality, and the destinations of human ashes, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,12: 881-898 (with Jenny Hockey and David Prendergast )
- (2005) 'In the shadow of the traditional grave', Mortality Vol 10(4), pp 237-250 (with David Prendergast & Jenny Hockey)
- (2004) 'The diversity and welfare of older migrants in Europe', Ageing and Society 24: 307-326, with Warnes, A. et al (externals)
- (2004) 'Resistance, Renewal or Reinvention: The Removal of Ashes from Crematoria' : L. Kellaher & D. Prendergast: Pharos International, Vol 70, Issue 4, winter 2004, pp 10 - 13.
- (2003) Where have all the ashes gone?, Pharos: International Journal of the Death Care Industry, Autumn, with Jenny Hockey
Books/Chapters
- (2006) Environment and Identity in Later Life. Open University Press, McGraw-Hill, pp.182 (with Peace, S and Holland, C.)
- (2005) The Secret Cemetery . Materialising Culture Series, Oxford: Berg, pp 298. (with Doris Francis and Georgina Neophytu (external)
- (2005) 'Making Space for Identity' (with Peace, S., Holland C. )
in G.A. Andrews and D.R.Phillips (eds) Ageing and Place. London, Routledge - (2005) 'The Influence of Neighbourhood and Community on Wellbeing and Identity in Later Life: an English perspective' (with Peace, S., Holland C) in G.D. Rowles and H. Chaudrey (eds) Coming Home: International Perspectives on Place, Time and Identity in Old Age . New York, Springer
- (2005) 'Getting Out and About' : co-authored with researchers on three GO projects on aspects of environment; in Understanding Quality of Life in Old Age : Growing Older Series edited by A. Walker; Open University Press, Maidenhead.
- (2004) 'Quality of Life or A Life of Quality?' with S.M. Peace & C. Holland; in Quality of Life in Old Age : Growing Older Series, ed. A. Walker: Open University Press, Maidenhead
- (2004/5) 'Space Age'. In Rowles & Chaudury (eds) Coming Home. Springer Press (forthcoming)
- (2004) Environment and Identity in Later Life: quality of life or life of quality?. (with Holland and Pearce). In Walker & Hennessey (eds) Growing Older: Quality of Life in Old Age.
- (2002) 'The Cemetery: Evidence of Continuing Bonds', in Hockey, J. (ed.) Grief, Mourning and Death Ritual. Buckingham, Open University Press
- (2001) 'Shaping everyday life: beyond design'. In Pearce & Holland (eds) Inclusive Housing. Bristol, Policy Press
Reports
- (2004) 'The Significance of the Historic Environment for a Cemetery ‘Community’ ; Appendix to City of London Cemetery & Crematorium: Conservation Management Plan. Ed. D. Lambert, Griffiths architects for Corporation of London.
- (2004) Redefining domesticity, (with J.Hanson, UCL). Housing Corporation (forthcoming)
- (2003) Leonie Kellaher, Sheila Peace and Caroline Holland (externals) Environment and Identity in Later Life: a cross-setting study, ESRC Research Findings 18 (Growing Older programme) (http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gop/index.htm)
- (2001) Is genuine choice a reality? The range and adequacy of living arrangements available to older people'. In Our homes, our lives: choice in later life living arrangements. Housing Corporation and Centre for Policy on Ageing
Other
- (2003) Video (40 mins.) At Home: place, identity and later life
Advisory/Peer Esteem
- City of London Corporation Cemeteries - Conservation Management Plan
Contact Information
Tel: +44 (0)207 133 5082
E-mail: l.kellaher@londonmet.ac.uk
