Sensations, Bodies, and the ‘Spirit of a Place’: Aesthetics in Residential Organizations for the Elderly

Abstract

This article uses data collected in the 1970s and 1980s from old people’s homes (OPHs) in the United Kingdom to explore how aesthetics are organized in residential organizations for the elderly. The analysis reviews the sensations to which OPH members are subjected and reveals the role of power in organizing aesthetic experiences. Paradoxes associated with framing residential organizations as homes and with controlling residents’ bodies are explored. I focus on the senses of smell, sight, touch, and sound with attention to staff and residents’ views of residents’ bodily messes and their constructions of residents’ death and dying. In exploring the ‘spirit of a place,’ I differentiate homey from institutional facilities (as ideal types) by noting their physical, cultural, and social attributes. In a section on socially constructing residents’ bodies, I explore how homey (more than institutional) OPHs use power to enhance residents’ dignity and rights. Conclusions affirm the value of placing the ethnographer and her bodily sensations inside the story and the need for more research on smells and power’s role in creating a positive spirit in residential organizations for the elderly.