THE LEGACY OF CULTURAL CONTEXTS IN THE LIVES AND IDENTITIES OF MINORITY OLDER PERSONS IN EUROPE
CULTURAL FACTORS AND SOCIAL IDENTITIES AS A SOURCE OF SUPPORT FOR OLDER PEOPLE
WEDNESDAY 25th March
13.00 – 16.30 Registration at Hotel Hestia Seaport, Uus-Sadama 23
14.00 – 16.00 Voluntary Walking Tour in the Old City of Tallinn
16.30 – 17.00 Welcome to New members, meeting with Board at Hotel Hestia Seaport Reception
17.30 – 20.00 Welcome Reception at the Tallinn City Hall Tallinn Raekoda, Raekoja plats 1
THURSDAY 26th March
9.00 Opening session at Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom, Toompea 8
The Legacy of Socialism in the Lives and Identities of Older Persons in Europe Europe has a history of silence when it comes to the times of totalitarian and socialist systems. But there are many Europeans whose lives and youth these experiences have affected. Condemning the past results in hiding one’s identities and both the good and the bad experiences about the past. Every society and political system have an ordinary everyday life and family stories that can be well remembered, as any older person remembers. By the culture of silence, we tend to ignore those memories.
10.40 Coffee break at National Library of Estonia, Tõnismägi 2
11.10 Burdens of the Past – Sharing experiences with ENIEC members
In this session, we will dive into the identities and lives of people who come from Soviet times. We will discuss the impact of the Cold War’s divided Europe and the tradition of socialism, the identity of the East and West Europe. The goal is to familiarize our network members to recognize what a Post-Soviet identity is, and how it lives on within older people. We’ll have discussions and ideas from ENIEC members’ own experiences as well as connection to our work with minority older persons.
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Parallel sessions and discussions
How to Guarantee the Rights of Ethnic Minority Elderly in Contexts of Care?
International Human Rights treaties determine the laws of the countries that have ratified them. The workshop aims to get to know Human Rights and their obligations to European countries. We will discuss how they are part of the everyday life of older people and their presence in care services. Human Rights support us in our work to ensure social justice and to develop culture-sensitive services for minority older people.
Working in Intercultural Elderly Care in the Polarized Atmosphere of Europe
Multiculturalism is a target state for some people, a threat for others. The workshop is intended to reflect on whether the polarization of social debates and politics have an impact on practical work to support the everyday life and care of older people of ethnic background. How can we support each other in multicultural work, research, and volunteering?
How does Post-Soviet Identity Affect Elderly Living in Europe?
The culture-sensitive framework requires consideration of personal, cultural and religious meanings as well as the diverse identities of people. Eastern European identity is one dimension that affects the position of the elderly in European societies. In the workshop, we will discuss how we can support minority older persons with a culture-sensitive framework. We will have examples of how we can better identify the “Eastern” identity and support older people from Eastern Europe in their “Western” countries care services.
15.00 Coffee break
15.30 Social dynamics
We’ll dive into discussions of what have we learned through the discussions of the day by sharing our knowledge with other members. By discussing and working together we will be able to recognize the social identities of older people in minorities.
17.00 Finishing the day
19.00 Dinner and Dancing at Maarjamäe Castle, Pirita tee 56
FRIDAY 27th March
9.00 General Assembly at Vanurite Eneseabi-ja Nõustamisühing (VENÜ), J. Poska 15
12.00 Closing session: Increasing the Power of ENIEC network. Experiences of members
What do we learn from each other about co-operation? Case: How ENIEC has influenced on
the dementia work in Estonia? Open discussion about the Power of the ENIEC network.
13.00 Closing ceremony of ENIEC Annual Meeting 2020
13.30 Lunch and farewell
Small changes to the program are possible. Please, contact us at annualmeeting@eniec.eu if you have any questions! We look forward to seeing you all in Tallinn in March 2020!
