Dr Laura Haapio-Kirk
I am a social anthropologist whose work focuses on the intersection of wellbeing, ageing, and digital technologies. I received my Ph.D. from University College London in 2022 and am currently a Junior Research Fellow in Anthropology at Christ Church, University of Oxford.
My first book, Ageing with Smartphones in Japan; care in a visual digital age, provides a critical overview of how experiences of later life are changing in Japan in the context of an ageing society, internal migration, and the uptake of the smartphone.
My new project, ‘Feeling at Home in a Digital World’, explores how older adults craft spaces of wellbeing both online and offline, highlighting the reciprocal relationships of care between people, technologies, and the natural world that shape experiences of ageing. The project investigates the embodied, social, and environmental dimensions of ageing, focusing on how technologies impact the wellbeing of older adults and wider ecosystems. I am conducting fieldwork in various sites in Finland, including Lapinlahden Lähde, an old psychiatric hospital which has been turned into a cultural centre for wellbeing in Helsinki.
My work centres graphic methods as a way to understand the affective dimensions of wellbeing. I am fascinated by graphic ethnography and the potential of drawing to reveal insights about our feelings and inner lives.
I am sharing this research journey through illustrated newsletters and I hope you’ll join me on the adventure!
Contact me: laura.haapio-kirk (at) chch.ox.ac.uk
Photos taken in the Christ Church College Library by Ian Wallman.