Tracking the lives of the oldest generation

What is the impact of life transitions on members of the oldest generation? How do such changes affect inter-generational relations? How, as older people, do we make sense of such changes and their effect upon our lives? What are the key events that mark the passage of time in later life? This paper reports on The Oldest Generation, a project that is part of Timescapes, a multi-centre, multi-disciplinary, ESRC-funded programme of qualitative longitudinal research. It describes fieldwork and provide an example of how the analysis of the resulting data is being approached. Organised around the three temporalities of biographical, generational and historical time (Adam, 2008) and spanning the life course, Timescapes includes seven projects that are tracking individuals over time. It will illuminate life experiences such as growing up, forming and sustaining relationships, bearing and rearing children, living in families and growing older