Embracing a Pākehā cronehood: storying self, society, and the common good

Abstract

Within the social and professional circles of the Pākehā (settler) authors of this article, we witness and aspire to cronehood as a status to be embraced – an opportunity to make old bones enriched with life’s experiences and promising the possibilities of shared life-enhancing wisdom. Cronehood, we posit, is something that may be nurtured in the context of community. Its potency cannot be separated from the consideration of the socioeconomic, political and environmental injustices that impact on the everyday choices of many people. Drawing on the work of Marshall, we pursue inner arcs of reflection on cronehood from our experiences as Pākehā women now in our thirties, forties and sixties. We also navigate the privileges and responsibilities we associate with our personal situations and the issues of our time and place. We then focus on Marshall’s ideas about outer arcs of reflection and influence to amplify our advocacy for public investment in the common good. Writing this article together drew us into fluid motion between inner and outer arcs of reflection, generating mutual enrichment in our thoughts about ageing and our advocacy for more explicitly activist and affective research orientations in and beyond the Academy.