Ageing with a captive society in London: Audrey, Ron and Smokey at the Zoo

Abstract

This paper considers the spatio-temporal capacity of a set of relationships as they are identified by a group of older people who are regular visitors to London Zoo. It explores the intersections between the time of retirement and the scales and directionality of time commonly invoked by zoological forms of knowledge about species and biodiversity. This includes a look at how both positive and negative theories of futures, including the future of the zoo itself, become a prism through which individuals examine their relationships to time towards the end of life. In addition, the paper focuses on those visitors who seek, in a hopeful manner, to reorient themselves in the city through engagements with individual captive animals.