Books
My first solo-authored book is about how changing experiences of later life intersect with the adoption of smartphones by older adults in Japan. It is based on 16 months of ethnographic research in urban Kyoto and in rural Kōchi Prefecture and follows people as they navigate social and personal shifts post-retirement, often while managing increasingly digitally-mediated forms of care.
The book challenges a predominantly negative portrayal of digital communication, showing how the rise of digital visual communication among people in their 50s and older opens new possibilities for sociality and proximity among friends and family. I show how older women and men negotiate oppressive structures within society, looking at how the smartphone at once challenges and perpetuates gender-based norms around care.
The book presents a series of experimentations with graphic research methods, including co-created comics and participant drawings. I also incorporate my own fieldwork sketches and imaginative illustrations as openings to each chapter, inviting a moment of pause and reflection as they visually interweave themes that are threaded throughout the book.
Praise for Ageing with Smartphones in Japan
'Highly original, creative and descriptively rich contribution to our understanding of ageing, images, and communication in contemporary Japan. Extensively researched and thought-provoking, Haapio-Kirk also rewards the reader with lively story-telling and beautifully crafted images that invite another level of sensory and emotional engagement - an impressive achievement.'
Dr Jason Danely, Reader in Anthropology of Japan, Oxford Brookes University.
'An excellent and thoughtful book on ageing in Japan, focusing on the use of smartphones, but not limited to it. The truly innovative use of graphic and multimodal ethnography is not only effective but also showcases such methods for others.'
Dr Iza Kavedžija, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.
In this co-authored book, we interweave the findings of the Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Ageing project. 11 anthropologists each spent 16 months living in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, focusing on the take up of smartphones by older people. Our research reveals that smartphones are technology for everyone, not just for the young. The Global Smartphone presents a series of original perspectives deriving from this global and comparative research project. Smartphones have become as much a place within which we live as a device we use to provide ‘perpetual opportunism’, as they are always with us. We show how the smartphone is more than an ‘app device’ and explore differences between what people say about smartphones and how they use them.
The smartphone is unprecedented in the degree to which we can transform it. As a result, it quickly assimilates personal values. In order to comprehend it, we must take into consideration a range of national and cultural nuances, such as visual communication in China and Japan, mobile money in Cameroon and Uganda, and access to health information in Chile and Ireland – all alongside diverse trajectories of ageing in Al Quds, Brazil and Italy. Only then can we know what a smartphone is and understand its consequences for people’s lives around the world.
Praise for The Global Smartphone
‘Interesting ethnographic insights into the use of the smartphone.’
European Journal of Communication
'ethnographically rich... lavishly illustrated not only with color photographs but with links to helpful, short videos the authors filmed'
Journal of Anthropological Research
'Laced with ethnographic vignettes, images and screenshots of devices, and infographics of smartphone usage across sites and written in a highly accessible language devoid of heavy academic jargon, The Global Smartphone makes for an interesting read. This book offers a much needed contribution to the literature on smartphone adoption amongst older populations. It will be of interest to scholars working in the field of aging and gerontology, elder care, social change, media and communication. Being published open access will ensure its reach to a wider audience.'
Anthropology and Aging
Digital Repertoires: Embedded and everyday technologies in later life
I am the co-editor of this volume which explores the intersection between ageing and technology, set to be published in 2025 by UCL Press. In addition to co-authoring the introduction and contributing my own chapter which explores a graphic approach to researching digital repertoires, I have also designed the book cover.
The book presents the concept of 'digital repertoire' as a powerful tool for researchers across disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, gerontology, public policy, communication studies, design, and more. This book highlights the diverse ways older adults engage with digital technologies across five continents. With studies from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Japan, the Philippines, and Sweden, the book offers a truly global and cross-cultural perspective on a pressing issue.
The broad notion of the digital repertoire makes this book relevant not only to those focused on ageing but also to anyone interested in the varied uses of digital technology across different age groups and cultural contexts. With a balanced approach that combines conceptual, theoretical, and empirical perspectives, this volume is an essential resource for teaching, research, and practice in the ever-evolving field of digital technology studies.