Age Exchange Book

MAPPING MEMORIES - Reminiscence with Ethnic Minority Elders features the lives of 24 elders who originate from the Caribbean, Africa, India and China.

Researcher Meena Khatwa spent a year interviewing people for the book and she says: “We heard the same concerns from the older people. “Why do you want to interview me? My life isn’t interesting. Who would want to hear my stories?”

But, as she got to know the people, she says: “There was a genuine sense of contentment, excitement and at times feeling of sorrow in what was being revealed.”

The idea of the book is to offer workers creative ideas for ways to encourage older people to open up and talk about their past and exchange experiences with young people.

But, apart from that, it is a compelling document in which the interviewees btalk about their lives in six distinct chapters:

· Childhood, home and family
· Schooldays and growing up
· Courtship and marriage
· Leaving home
· Settling in Britain
· Growing old in Britain

Every section is followed by details of creative activities that can be followed by older people."

Lavishly illustrated with over 150 photographs and illustrations in an imaginatively designed 206-page format, the book also includes a CD- ROM with two films: “Life Portraits”, which features interviews in their own homes with elders, and “Long Ago and Far Away”, which shows creative approaches to reminiscence with ethnic elders.

Alex Kalache, Chief of Ageing at the World Health Organisation, says in his foreword to the new book: “‘Mapping Memories’ opens a window onto the lives of ethnic minority elders in Britain. It reminds us what a rich asset Britain has with this cultural patchwork. Migration was a vibrant reality of the second half of the last century and will continue to be a driving force
in the construction of tomorrow’s societies across the developed world. “And we should all be glad for that - it results in much richer, more diverse and dynamic communities. It is important that younger generations in our ethnically mixed societies develop an understanding of the forces which have created, and continue to create, such a mix. Once again, Age Exchange is leading the way by recording the past of a whole generation of ethnic minority elders, preserving it for our own future.”

If you want to purchase a copy for your organisation/library, please contact Age Exchange on 020 8318 9105.

Pam Schweitzer
Artistic Director
Age Exchange

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