Education in Old Age as Appropriation of One’s Own Life History

Abstract

In this paper, the capacity and willingness to the appropriation of one’s own life history will be evaluated as an expression of Education in old age. These relate to historical and socio-political factors and are entered in multigenerational educational contexts and processes of development throughout life. In this perspective, concepts such as generation, generationality, generativity and transgenerational transmission are highlighted and will be discussed. The line of argument supporting this point of view is based on studies from German-speaking countries about children of World War II who have aged. Although this is a specific situation, it seems possible to extend the reflections to the Brazilian context as well.