Alive and Kicking at All Ages: Cultural Constructions of Health and Life Course Identity (Aging Studies, 5)

The linking of age and ill-health is part of a cultural narrative of decline as age is often defined as the absence of good health. Research has shown that we are aged by culture, but we are also culturally made ill when we age. The cultural ambiguity of aging can thus deconstruct negative images of old age as physical decrepitude. This volume investigates the topic of health within the matrix of time and experience by addressing issues such as how our understanding of health influences our notion of agency within a subversive deconstruction of normative age concepts, and what role the notion of health plays in such an interaction. The linking of age and ill-health is part of a cultural narrative of decline as age is often defined as the absence of good health. Research has shown that we are aged by culture, but we are also culturally made ill when we age. The cultural ambiguity of aging can thus deconstruct negative images of old age as physical decrepitude. This volume investigates the topic of health within the matrix of time and experience by addressing issues such as how our understanding of health influences our notion of agency within a subversive deconstruction of normative age concepts, and what role the notion of health plays in such an interaction. Contributions by Sally Chivers, Amelia DeFalco, Ricca Edmondson, Leni Marshall, Sherryl Wilson and others. Cover Alive and Kicking at All Ages 1 Content 6 Re-Thinking Material Realities and Cultural Representations of Age and Aging 10 MATERIAL REALITIES 20 Ageility Studies. The Interplay of Critical Approaches in Age Studies and Disability Studies 22 I May be Old and Sick, But I Am Still a Person 42 Health and Everyday Bodily Experiences of Old Mexican Women 66 Kwik-Fit versus Varying Speeds of Aging 82 Preemptive Biographies. Life and the Life Course in the Age of Security Administration 102 Internalization or Social Comparison? An Empirical Investigation of the Influence of Media (Re)Presentations of Age on the Subjective Health Perception and Age Experience of Older People 118 Combating Age Discrimination in the Workplace A Study of the United States’ Rights-Based Response 132 CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS 152 “There’s a reason we’re here” Per formative Autobiographics and Age Identity in Per former-Created Intergenerational Theatre 154 Images of Living and Ageing Counter-Cultural Constructions of Health and Wisdom 170 She’s Been Away Ageing, Madness and Memory 188 Illness and Love in Old Age. Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge 204 Uncanny Witnessing. Dementia, Narrative, and Identity in Fiction by Munro and Franzen 222 Shaking off Shackles. LTC Havens in “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” and The Other Sister 244 “Old women that will not be kept away”. Undermining Ageist Discourse with Invisibility and Per formance 260 Scrutinizing the “Medical Glance” Bodily Decay, Disease and Death in Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman 276 Wisdom versus Frailty in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Voices and Doris Lessing’s “The Reason for It” 286 From Cane to Chair. Old Age and Storytelling in Juvenile Literature by Hawthorne, Goodrich, and Mogridge 298 Contributors 320 Aging Studies,Disability,Health,Identity,Gender,Narratives of Decline,Memory,Madness,Medicine,Sociology of Medicine,Cultural Studies Re-thinking material realities and cultural representations of age and aging -- Ulla Kriebernegg, Roberta Maierhofer, Barbara Ratzenböck Material realities -- Ageility studies the interplay of criticial approaches in age studies and disability studies -- Leni Marshall I may be old and sick, but I am still a person -- Beverly Lunsford Health and everyday bodily experiences of old Mexican women -- Meiko Makita Kwik-fit versus various speeds of aging -- Elena Bendien preemtive biographies life and the life course in the age of security administration -- Rüdiger Kunow Internalization or social comparison? an empirical investigation of the influence of media (re)presentations of age on the subjective health perception and age experience of older people -- Julian Wangler Combating age discrimination in the workplace a study of the United States' rights-based response -- Elisabeth Boulot Cultural representations -- "There's a reason we're here" performative autobiographies and age identity in performer-created intergenerational theatre -- Sally Chivers, David Barnet, Jacquie Eales, and Janet Fast Images of living and ageing counter-cultural constructions of health and wisdom -- Ricca Edmondson and Eileen Fairhurst She's been away ageing, madness and memory -- Sherryl Wilson Illness and love in old age Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge -- Meike Dackweiler Uncanny Witnessing dementia, narrative, and identity in fiction by Munro and Franzen -- Amelia DeFalco Shaking off shackles LTC Havens in The bear came over the mountain and The other sister -- Patricia Life "Old women that will not be kept away" undermining ageist discourse with invisibility and performance -- Ellen Matlok-Ziemann Scrutinizing the "medical glance" bodily decay, disease and death in Margaret Atwood's The edible woman -- Marta Cerezo Moreno Wisdom versus frailty in Ursula K. Guin's Voices and Doris Lessing's The reason for it -- Marciel Oró-Piqueras From cane to chair old age and storytelling in juvenile literature by Hawthorne, Goodrich, and Mogridge-- Eriko Ogihara-Schuck.