The role of the material and natural world in grandparent-grandchild communication over distance

This dissertation sets out to study the role of the material and natural world in communication between grandparents and young grandchildren over distance. Two guiding notions of doing and triviality, grounded in the theoretical notion of agency in relation (Barad, 2007), serves as the thread in three chapters.

In the first chapter, doing is studied with a specific interest in physical items and communication technologies, which are grouped as constitutive nonhumans. Triviality is theoretically approached with phaticity in communication (Malinwoski, 1923; Jakboson, 1960). The results show how the entanglement of constitutive nonhumans supports the establishment and maintenance of contact over distance between grandparents and young grandchildren, that might have pleasurable and unpleasurable outcomes. In entanglement, emotional connection and contact conflate, and familiarity with constitutive nonhumans can direct communication in pleasurable outcomes that can differ in mediated or co-located settings.

The second chapter is informed by the doing of researchers with participants and the research context, with a special interest in emotion work (Hochschild, 1983). Triviality was approached with the term unlooked-for findings to gain visibility for otherwise neglected moments and insights during the research process. The narratives treat four themes that explicate how researchers manage trade-offs in a mixed-method study. First, researchers manage a dual sense of responsibility between research outcomes and caring for the participants. Second, researchers engage in consent in reciprocity by sharing or concealing personal anecdotes. Third, the interview environment reveals topics of personal interest. Fourth, researchers make trade-offs between prior agreements when participants make challenging invitations. The chapter concludes by the implication of unlooked-for findings for writing, engaging with participants, researcher responsibility among humans and nonhumans and understanding that neutrality and emotions constitute each other.

The third chapter looks at the duality between nature and culture during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guiding principle doing was concerned with how families displayed themselves on social media, and TikTok more specifically. Through the study of trivial actions, theoretically grounded in the Intergenerational Solidarity Framework (ISF, Bengtson & Roberts, 1991), the study looks at the differences between the generation of grandparents and generation of grandchildren in how they managed and displayed (Finch, 2007) their relationship to others. The results suggest that physical touch is an important deficit during the pandemic and that family display becomes important when it concerns big life events. Families found ways to have fun together, and these could be supported by TikTok in the form of dance challenges. The chapter concludes by stating that differences between generations were showcased and that grandchildren emphasized their responsibility towards their grandparents, trying to guard them from the COVID-19 virus.

The discussion formulates conclusions across the different chapters by addressing the two guiding principles doing and triviality. First, the notion of doing highlighted various aspects of grandparenting, grandchildrening and researching. The discussion explains the pitfalls of studying grandparents and grandchildren in an analytic interest on technology use, and recurring health threats, as well as the role of theory to come to such an understanding. Second, the notion triviality is discussed through an appreciation of the possibilities that are created with trivial actions, to emphasize how different categories depend on each other for communication.