Ageing together: the symbiosis of gendered elderly bodies and old vehicles in a Ukrainian city

ABSTRACT

This article analyses commuting by elderly Ukrainian passengers on tramways and trolleybuses as a symbiosis between human bodies and public electric vehicles. First, aging is presented as an important part of the socio-material order of Ukrainian cities. Then, using ethnographic methods, the research traces how elderly, mostly female, bodies and aging vehicles are singled out as a symbiotic assemblage formed under rigid social assistance policies. Mutual dependencies between bodies and vehicles help them both remain in the city. In the discussion, this symbiotic assemblage is connected to the larger policy and political context of Ukraine in terms of Europeanization. Using assemblage thinking and the notion of symbiosis allows us to see elderly commuters on Ukrainian tram and trolleybuses not as mere end-users of the city but as co-creators of urban space.

KEYWORDS:

• Assemblages
• public transport
• older people
• Europeanization
• gendered mobilities

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Dates and destinations of the field research: 2011, June – August: Mariupol, Horlivka, Druzhkivka.

2012, January, July – August: Mariupol, Kostiantynivka, Horlivka, Yenakieve;

2013, January, July – August: Mariupol, Kostiantynivka, Horlivka;

2014, January: Druzhkivka, Mariupol.

2. Fieldwork was conducted before 2018, followed appropriate ethical procedures, and had ethical approval. For this article, an additional check was carried out to ensure that none of people quoted or referred to could be identified.

3. These numbers appear on Wikipedia pages [in Russian] Naselenie Mariupolja [Population of Mariupol], Mariupolʹskij metallurgičeskij kombinat imeni Ilʹiča [Mariupol Illicha Steelworks], Azovstal. They were confirmed in personal communication.

4. Petitions were available on the old website of Platform for electronic democracy https://e-dem.in.ua/mariupol/Petition/View/1501, https://e-dem.in.ua/mariupol/Petition/View/1390. The website has since moved to another address, with older content lost.