Anna Siverskog

Research

Anna Siverskog is an assistant professor and a Postdoctoral scholar in Social Work. She has a PhD in Ageing and Later Life from Linköping University. Her research interests revolve around age, gender, sexuality, power, and the life course with a specific interest in LGBTQ ageing.

Older LGBTQ-identified people have experienced tremendous changes in how gender identities and sexualities have been re-negotiated during their lifetimes. Even though there is a small but growing field of LGBTQ ageing studies, queer studies rarely problematizes age or ageing. At the same time, the gerontological field often assumes heterosexuality and cis-gender experiences. The post doc project Rainbow competent eldercare? A study on practices, needs and challenges in the meeting with LGBTQ people in Swedish eldercare explores LGBTQ people's experiences of receiving eldercare.

Siverskog's dissertation Queer lines : Living and ageing as an LGBTQ person in a heteronormative world is based on life-course interviews with 20 LGBTQ-identified people, born between 1922 and 1950, 62-88 years old at the time of the interviews. The overarching aim of the study is to explore experiences and meanings of living and ageing as LGBTQ in a changing heteronormative world. The theoretical framework in this study refers to critical gerontology, feminist theory and queer theory. The analysis points to how experiences of gender identity and sexuality relate to historical and geographical contexts, and change over time. It illustrates how gender, age and sexuality intersect with heteronormative expectations of what a life is supposed to be like. To not live up to these expectations by not adjusting to binary gender norms or not getting married and having children may have large social as well as material consequences. These include having to hide one’s gender identity or sexuality, being socially repudiated and discriminated against or being subject to physical violence. Despite these conditions, the interviewees have oriented toward other lines - other ways of living where there is room for their gender identities and sexualities. The interviews point to the significance of social relations, networks and LGBTQ communities. LGBTQ groups and meeting places that have been created over time have facilitated in finding these other lines. Most of the narratives on ageing are similar to those of other people the same age, but there are also narratives that are specific to LGBTQ experiences. For some the ageing body has ruled out the possibility of undergoing transgender-specific surgeries. Others are worried about encountering homophobic or transphobic treatment when in need of care. The results point to the importance of including critical approaches of gender and sexuality within gerontology and life course studies, and to including materiality when theorizing the ageing body. The dissertation also constitutes a theoretical bridge between gerontology, feminist theory and queer theory and contributes to more complex understandings of intersections between age, gender and sexuality to these fields. The dissertation (in Swedish) can be found here.

During 2021 she has worked for NIKK on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers with a systematic literature review on Health, well-being and life conditions of young LGBTI persons in the Nordic countries 

Biography

Siverskog has an interdisciplinary background with a master in Social and Cultural Analysis, and a PhD in Ageing and Later Life, both from Linköping University.

During 2018 she worked in Lund University with a study on how Swedish municipalities reason around social services without individual need assessment. Many Swedish municipalities approve home-care services for persons above a particular age without individual need assessment (FBH) and following a change in the Social Service Act, this approach is likely to become a greater part of Swedish eldercare.

Together with Janne Bromseth she has edited an anthology that collects empirical studies in the Nordic countries on LGBT ageing.

During 2012-2013 Siverskog was a visiting scholar at San Francisco State University, USA where she with a study on meaning among LGBT boomers.

Publications

Monographs

Siverskog, A. (2016). Queera livslopp. Att leva och åldras som lhbtq-person i en heteronormativ värld. (Akademisk avhandling). Linköping: Linköpings universitet. Institutionen för samhälls- och välfärdsstudier

Peer-reviewed articles

Siverskog, A., Jönson, H. (2020) Vart är äldreomsorgen på väg? Argument för och emot förenklad biståndshandläggning. [Where is Swedish eldercare headed? Arguments for and against simplified need assessment processes] Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift. 27(1), 91-110

Siverskog, A., Bromseth, J. (2019). Subcultural spaces: LGBTQ aging in a Swedish context. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 88(4), 325-340. 

Siverskog, A. (2015). Ageing Bodies that Matter: Age, Gender and Embodiment in Older Transgender People's Life Stories. NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Studies 23 (1), 4-19

Siverskog, A. (2014). “They just don’t have a clue”: Transgender aging and implications for social work. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 57, 386–406.

Jönson, H., Siverskog, A. (2012). "Turning vinegar into wine": Humorous self-presentations among older GLBTQ online daters. Journal of Aging Studies 26 (1): 55-64

Anthologies, reports and book chapters

Siverskog A. (2021) Queer äldreomsorg? Att möta äldre lhbtq-personer inom vård och omsorg. Stockholm: RFSL Stockholm.

Siverskog, A. (2021). Health, well-being and life conditions of young LGBTI persons in the Nordic countries. TemaNord 2021:534. Nordic Council of Ministers.

Fabbre, V., Siverskog, A. (2019). Transgender Ageing: Community Resistance and Well-Being in the Life Course. I King, A., Almack K., Jones. R.  (eds.) Intersections of Ageing, Gender and Sexualities. Multidisciplinary international perspectives. Bristol: Policy Press

Siverskog, A., Bromseth, J. (2018) Queers livsforløb. I An-Margritt Erdal (red.) Gerontologi Kobenhavn: Gads forlag.

Siverskog, A. (2017) “They just don’t have a clue”: Transgender aging and implications for social work. I Rowan, N.L., Giunta, N.L. (red.) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Aging. The Role of Gerontological Social Work. London: Routledge.

Siverskog, A. (2017) “Att åldras som lhbtq-person”. I Stina Johansson (red.) Social omsorg i socialt arbete : grunder och fördjupningar. Malmö: Gleerups

Bromseth, J., Siverskog, A. (red.) (2013). LHBTQ-personer och åldrande: Nordiska perspektiv Lund: Studentlitteratur

Siverskog, A. (2013). "Den internationella forskningen om äldre hbtq-personer" I Bromseth, J., Siverskog, A. (red.) LHBTQ-personer och åldrande: Nordiska perspektiv. Lund: Studentlitteratur

Siverskog, A. (2013). "'För oss blir ju hela livet en teater': Äldre transpersoners erfarenheter av åldrande och könsidentitet" I Bromseth, J., Siverskog, A. (red.) LHBTQ-personer och åldrande: Nordiska perspektiv Lund: Studentlitteratur

Siverskog, A. (2010). ”Expressions of class, (old) age and ableness in the discourse on home and residence in two senior housing contexts” I Abramsson, M., Hagberg, J-E., Nord, C. (red.) Äldres boende – rum för åldrande

Conference papers

Siverskog, A. (2019). “Different pathways in current eldercare policies in Sweden: Arguments for and against individual needs assessment”, poster presented at International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress 2019, 23-25 May 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden

Siverskog, A., Bromseth, J. (2019). “Subcultural Spaces: Lgbtq Aging in a Swedish Context”, paper presented at International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress 2019, 23-25 May 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden

Siverskog, A. (2016). "Theorizing the aging body: Grasping embodiment and materiality in older LGBTQ people's life stories", paper presented at 23rd Nordic Gerontological Congress, 19-22 June, Tampere, Finland

Siverskog, A. (2014). “Aging bodies that matter: Age, gender and embodiment in older transgender people's life stories.” 17-18 September, The Transgender Studies Workshop, Södertörns högskola

deVries, B., Siverskog, A., Melendez, R. (2013). "Finding Meaning among LGBT Boomers", paper presented at Gerontological Society of America's 66th Annual Scientific Meeting, 20-24 November, New Orleans, USA

deVries, B., Siverskog, A., Melendez, R. (2013). "The Meaning of an Acronym: Perspectives from a National Sample of LGBT Boomers in the U.S.", paper presented at 42nd Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting Canadian Association of Gerontoloy, 17-19 October, Halifax, Kanada

Siverskog, A. (2012). "Transforming Life Courses. Gender, Age and the Body in Older Transgender Persons' Life Stories", paper presented at Gerontological Society of America's 65th Annual Scientific Meeting 14-18 November, San Diego, USA

Siverskog, A. (2012). "Life as theatre: older transgender persons’ experiences of ageing and gender identity", paper presented at 21th Nordic Congress of Gerontology 10-13 June, Köpenhamn, Danmark

Siverskog, A. (2012). “Ageing, gender and health in older transgender identified persons’ life stories”, paper presented at Trans rights as human rights – the implications for trans health(care) 8-10 May, Linköping, Sverige

Siverskog, A. (2011). "Queer Life Scripts - Normativity and Queerness in Older Persons' Life Stories", paper presenterad at Gerontological Society of America 64th Annual Scientific Meeting, 18-22 November, Boston, USA

Siverskog, A. (2010). "'Well-experienced Daddies' and 'Mature Women' - Representations of Old Age and Ageing Bodies in Web-based GLBTQ Communities", paper presented at Gerontological Society of America 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting, 19-23 November, New Orleans, USA

Siverskog, A., Jönson, H. (2010). "Doing Age with Humour - Representations of (Old) Age in Web-based GLBTQ Communities", paper presented at Gerontological society of America 63rd Annual Scientific Meeting, 19-23 November, New Orleans, USA

Siverskog, A. (2010). "Representations of Ageing Bodies in Web-based GLBTQ communities: Body Norms in Relation to Age, Gender and Sexuality", paper presented at Gender and Ageing Symposium, 5-8 October, Tromsö, Norge

Siverskog, A. (2009). ”Discourses on ageing, intimacy and sexuality in older persons’ life stories and within residential housing for older people”, poster presented at Gender, Ageing and the Body Conference, 20 July 2009, London, Storbritannien