EMBODIMENT AND EMPLACEMENT - IDENTITIES, REPRESENTATION AND LANDSCAPEIN SUN CITY RETIREMENT COMMUNITIES

This article focuses on the embodiment, emplacement and representation of aged identities and suggests that more attention be paid to the sp atiality of age relations. Identities are both externally imposed and self nominated. Using the example of retirees I explored the ways in w hich particular places are involved in the creation of identities. Sun City retirement communities are shown to 1) have a material form that serves the retiree identity, 2) be represented in particular ways tha t contribute to that identity and 3) simultaneously act as a represent ation. The article asks whether or not these communities are indicativ e of a shift to postmodernism, characterized by increased emphasis on surveillance, security, simulations, consumerism, and fragmentation of identities, in both life courses and landscapes.