Find out more about the re-launch of the Ageing, Body & Society Study Group.
Introduction
There has been a wealth of work recently on the subject of the body across the humanities and social sciences. Most has, however, focussed on younger, implicitly ´sexier’ bodies. Social gerontology has, moreover tended to avoid the subject of the body, in its struggle to assert the social and cultural determinants of ageing, as against the reductionist bio-medical accounts that dominate professional and popular discourses of age. Emphasising the body can seem to demean older people, reducing them to ´failing’ bodies. For these reasons gerontology has kept away from the topic. This means, however, that the body in old age has remained largely untheorised and unexplored.
Although work on the body in old age has begun to emerge, it remains scattered. Researchers and scholars are isolated in their disciplinary groupings. There is no obvious forum for exchange. The aim of this study group is to redress this, and establish a forum that will bring together work across a range of approaches and subject areas. We also invite researchers, practitioners and academics to revisit and explore the embodied dimensions of their work.
The aim of the group is therefore to be a focus for an exchange of ideas and debate. As part of this there will be a number of one-day seminars and workshops which will explore different aspects of ageing and the body. It is hoped that these will provide a basis for publications. The interests of the group are broad and include theory, empirical research and practice in relation to, for example:
- Anti-ageing/Age Resistance
- Lived bodies in everyday life
- Clothing and embodiment
- Discourses of ageing and ageism
- Well-being and the ageing body
- The masquerade of age
- Policing old bodies: intergenerational conflict and the role of governance
- Queer bodies
- Racialised bodies
- Fluid bodies, leaky bodies
- Gendered bodies
- Bodies in the Third and Fourth Ages
- Researching ageing bodies: methods and methodology
- Exercise and ‘active’ ageing
- Spatial geographies of bodies
- Bodies and institutions
- Death, dying and disposal
- Bodywork
- Emotions
Forthcoming Events
In 2008 the Ageing, Body and Society group will be relaunched and you are warmly invited to the following events, both at the University of Reading:
Re-launch of the Ageing, Body and Society group - A One Day Conference
FINAL PROGRAMME AVAILABLE
Wednesday 25th June 2008
Palmer Building, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading
Keynote Address: Professor Stephen Katz (Trent University, Canada)
Plenary Address: Professor Julia Twigg (University of Kent, UK)
Invitation to Delegates
There has been an increasing interest in the social, cultural and biological dimensions of our bodies as we grow older. This one day conference seeks to bring together academics and researchers whose work focuses on ageing bodies or wish to widen their interests by exploring the embodied dimensions of their research. We encourage researchers to share their perspectives on ‘ageing, body and society’.
We invite delegates to participate in this exciting area of study and if you wish to attend the conference please contact Wendy Martin.
This one day conference is free to attend and coffee and lunch will be provided but participants will need to organise and pay for their own travel and accommodation.
Joining the Group
The group organises seminars, workshops conferences and other events and has an e-mail discussion list as well as a web page. New members, including students, are very welcome to join the Group. To put your name on the Ageing, Body and Society Study Group mailing list please contact Wendy Martin.
Annual Report
The Ageing, Body & Society Study Group Annual Report for 2008 is now available.
Contact the Convenors
Offers of help, venues or ideas for future events are always welcome.
Dr Wendy Martin
School of Health and Social Care
University of Reading
Bulmershe Court
Earley
Reading RG6 1HY
0118 378 5842
Send an email.
and
Professor Julia Twigg
School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
The University of Kent
Canterbury
Kent CT2 7NZ
01227 827539
Send an email.
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