Micro-Practices of Domestic Living The Self-Care of Older Women in Precarious Circumstances

This article presents case studies of older women's survival strate-gies in domestic settings in the expensive city of Munich, based on ethnographic material from two research projects on women's pre-carious retirement and the use of technology in old age. The self-care routines developed by the women over time assemble mental strat-egies and attitudes, bodily practices and socio-material techniques integrated into a specific spatial setting. These routines help them adapt to their physical impairments under multiply precarious cir-cumstances: the pensioners portrayed have limited retirement funds, and thus, cannot afford household assistance or technical aids or even moving to another flat or into assisted living. Delving into pri- vate life-worlds and approaching women's perspectives and vulnera-ble agency, provides fresh insights into the field of private dwellings, often neglected in studies on old age.