Drawing on in-depth biographical interviews with 12 grandfathers of young grandchildren living in Czech Republic, this study explores how men perform and conceptualize their role of grandfather in relation to their previous role of father and their own family history. The analysis shows grandparenthood as an ambivalent space for the reconstruction of masculinity. One the one hand, grandparenthood was depicted by the participants as an important way of transitioning one’s own relationship to care and emotionality that enable them to relate to the care for young children outside the traditional frameworks of masculinity associated with the role of father. On the other hand, grandfather role represents an important tool for maintaining a connection with the ideal of hegemonic masculinity in older age and as a space for reconstructing the dichotomy between femininity and masculinity and the traditional dichotomies of care/work, activity/passivity, and private/public.
BartholomaeusC.TarrantA. (2016). Masculinities at the margins of “middle adulthood”: What a consideration of young age and old age offers masculinities theorizing. Men and Masculinities, 19, 351-369.
2.
BrannenJ.NilsenA. (2006). From fatherhood to fathering: Transmission and change among British fathers in four-generation families. Sociology, 40, 335-352.
3.
BuchananA.RotkirchA. (2016). Introduction. In BuchananA.RotkirchA. (Eds.), Grandfathers. Global perspectives (pp. 3-20). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
4.
ChanC. G.ElderG. H. (2000). Matrilineal advantage in grandchild-grandparent relations. The Gerontologist, 40, 179-190.
5.
ConnellR. (1987). Gender and power. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
ConnellR.MesserschmidtJ. W. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender & Society, 19, 829-859.
EzzyD. (2002). Qualitative analysis: Practice and innovation. London, England: Routledge.
9.
HearnJ. (1995). Imaging the aging of men. In FeatherstoneM.WernickA. (Eds.), Images of aging: Cultural representation of later life (pp. 97-115). London, England: Routledge.
10.
HearnJ.SandbergL. (2009). Older men, ageing and power: Masculinities theory and alternative spatialised theoretical perspectives. Sextant: Revue d Groupe Interdisciplinaire DʼEtudessur les Femmes et le Genre, 27, 147-163.
11.
HodgsonL. G. (1998). Grandparents and older grandchildren. In SzinovaczM. E. (Ed.), Handbook on grandparenting (pp. 171-183). London, England: Greenwood Press.
12.
HorsfallB.DempseyD. (2015). Grandparents doing gender: Experiences of grandmothers and grandfathers caring for grandchildren in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 51, 1070-1084.
13.
LesperanceD. (2010). Legacy, influence and keeping the distance: Two grandfathers, three stories. Journal of Menʼs Studies, 18, 199-217.
14.
MannR. (2007). Out of the shadows? Grandfatherhood, age and masculinities. Journal of Aging Studies, 21, 281-291.
15.
MannR.TarrantA.LeesonG. W. (2016). Grandfatherhood: Shifting masculinities in later life. Sociology, 50, 594-610.
MayV.MasonJ.ClarkeL. (2012). Being there, yet not interfering: The paradoxes of grandparenting. In ArberS.TimotenV. (Eds.), Contemporary grandparenting (pp. 139-158). Bristol, England: Policy Press.
18.
MeadowsR.DavidsonK. (2006). Maintaining manliness in later life: Hegemonic masculinities and emphasizes femininities. In CalasantiT. M.SlevinK. F. (Eds.), Age matters (pp. 295-313). New York, NY: Routledge.
19.
MuellerM. M.ElderG. H. (2003). Family contingencies across the generations: Grandparent-grandchild relationships in holistic perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 65, 404-417.
20.
RibeiroO. (2009). Elderly men on ageing families. In SousaL. (Ed.), Families in later life: Emerging themes and challenges (pp. 97-116). New York, NY: Nova Science.
21.
RiessmanC. K. (1993). Narrative analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
22.
RobertoK. A.AllenK. R.BliesznerR. (2001). Grandfathers’ perceptions and expectations of relationships with their adult grandchildren. Journal of Family Issues, 22, 407-426.
23.
SedlákováT.GalčanováL.BělehradováA. (2018). “Krásne prší, dedko, poďme! A tak sme išli.” Starootcovstvo ako neopomenutelná rola starších mužov [“Beautiful raining, grandpa, let’s go! And so we went.” Starcraft as an unforgettable role for older men]. Sociologický časopis, 54(1), 101-126.
24.
SeidmanI. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
25.
SilverC. B. (2003). Gendered identities in old age: Toward (de)gendering. Journal of Aging Studies, 17, 379-397.
26.
SilversteinM.LongJ. D. (1998). Trajectories of grandparent’s perceived solidarity with adult grandchildren: A growth curve analysis over 23 years. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 912-923.
27.
SorensenP.CooperN. J. (2010). Reshaping the family man: A grounded theory study of the meaning of grandfatherhood. Journal of Men’s Studies, 18, 117-136.
28.
Spector-MerselG. (2006). Never-aging stories: Western hegemonic masculinity scripts. Journal of Gender Studies, 15(1), 67-82.
29.
TarrantA. (2012). Grandfathering: The construction of new identities and masculinities. In ArberS.TimonenV. (Eds.), Contemporary grandparenting. Changing family relationships in global contexts (pp. 181-202). Bristol, England: Policy Press.
30.
TarrantA. (2013). Grandfathering as spatio-temporal practice: Conceptualizing performances of ageing masculinities in contemporary familial carescapes. Social & Cultural Geography, 14, 192-210.
31.
ThompsonE. H.LangendoerferK. B. (2016). Older menʼs blueprint for “Being a Man.”Men and Masculinities, 19, 119-147.
32.
UhlenbergP.HammillB. G. (1998). Frequency of grandparent contact with grandchild sets: Six factors that make a difference. The Gerontologist, 38, 276-285.
33.
VidovićováL.GalčanováL.Petrová KafkováM. (2015). Význam a obsah prarodičovské role u mladých českých seniorů a seniorek [Importance and content of grandparent’s role in young Czech seniors]. Sociologický časopis, 51, 761-782.
34.
WaldropD. P.WeberJ. A.HeraldS. L.PruettJ.CooperK.JuozapaviciusK. (1999). Wisdom and life experiences: How grandfathers mentor their grandchildren. Journal of Aging and Identity, 4(1), 33-46.
35.
WallG.ArnoldS. (2007). How involved is involved fathering? An exploration of the contemporary culture of fatherhood. Gender & Society, 21, 508-526.
