The quest for legacy in later life

Anthropological fieldwork among retirees in a rural New York community revealed that a common feature in people\u27s search for meaning was their effort to create a legacy. The results varied, and included innovative programs, the moral lessons of personal experience, and creative works. New retirees also cared about who would succeed them, either in their former positions, or by carrying on the work, stories, or sensibilities they had forged. Ethnographic vignettes relate these twin themes of legacy and succession to American ideas about debts, personal identity, and moral obligation. These stories are also compared with the way legacies are constructed In other societies. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved