The elderly between the two banks, crossed study (France and Algeria): a Psycho-socio-anthropological approach

Algeria, like the Maghreb and Africa more broadly, has proportions of senior citizens that are well below the levels exceeding 20% observed in Western countries and even in certain Asian countries such as Japan (23%). Nevertheless, the population aged over 60 is increasing inexorably and currently represents between seven and ten per cent of the total population. With this growth, these countries are facing three major transitions:A demographic transition, as declining fertility rates combined with increased life expectancy lead to a reduction in the number of individuals likely to care for senior citizens, thereby necessitating new forms of social and institutional arrangements;An epidemiological transition: as people live longer (according to the National Office of Statistics, life expectancy in Algeria is around 76 years), Algeria will increasingly face new health challenges, including senescence, neurological disorders, chronic illnesses, specialised healthcare needs, palliative care and end-of-life care;A developmental transition in the notion of senior citizenship, insofar as what was considered ‘old age’ a few decades ago has become far more nuanced today, firstly because people live longer and in better health, and secondly because seniors themselves increasingly claim a “second youth”, paying greater attention to their personal needs and overall well-being.Social, spatial, familial and economic changes do not always operate to the advantage of senior citizens. From an economic perspective, while older people who have worked in formal institutions receive pensions that, albeit modestly, allow them to live with some degree of dignity, many others have worked in agriculture, crafts or the informal sector and find themselves extremely vulnerable in this third stage of life, which may be almost as long as previous life stages, given increasing longevity and a life expectancy exceeding seventy-five years, as noted above.

From a socio-familial standpoint, the reduced number of children limits the availability of potential caregivers in situations of illness or dependency, raising the possibility of institutional placement. The socio-religious environment may also compel children to cohabit with their parents, even when the latter do not necessarily wish it (“I will not leave my parent(s) alone”). Spatially, several constraints emerge: for some, housing overcrowding; for others, issues related to excessive space, as children prefer to live independently, leaving elderly parents alone in large, costly and difficult-to-maintain homes. This situation concerns both local seniors and those on the other side of the Mediterranean, particularly retired dual nationals who have built houses they occupy sporadically or irregularly.

Thus, the number of senior citizens is increasing, and so too are their needs in terms of social connection, healthcare, well-being, leisure, recreation and meaningful occupation—especially as little has been planned for them in many of these areas. These factors highlight the complexity of the situation faced by seniors, whether in Algeria or in France.

This initial project aims to outline the issues surrounding older people, to gradually establish a field of reflection and research that will contribute to knowledge about this age group, and to enrich the research focus of the division. It adopts a primarily psycho-anthropological approach, seeking to clear the ground and lay the foundations for broader research. How do seniors experience their condition? How have they organised their retirement? How do migrants live between the two shores? Older people may sometimes be mistreated or marginalised; they may also, conversely, exercise forms of domination or be abusive themselves. How do they organise their lives among their children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law and sons-in-law? What place do they claim, and what place is granted to them?

Our ambition is to shed light on singular life trajectories that illustrate this age group, with its contradictions, shadowy areas, joys and sufferings, whether here or elsewhere, as poignantly expressed by a woman encountered on an aeroplane: “in any case, here a migrant, and there a migrant.” Are we not echoing Abdelmalek Sayad’s notion of the “double penalty”? What place is occupied by feelings of uncanny strangeness, foreignness and loneliness—between here and there, between one home and another (“I spend six months here and six months in France with my son; I do not go to Canada to my daughter’s, it is too cold there”)?