While aging and the life-course appear to be normalized processes, the complex construction of age at the intersection of biology, society, and culture remains opaque. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of age(ing) by exploring its construction through the analysis of extraordinary cases. Focusing on life narratives of centenarians and children with progeria, Julia Velten analyzes the way in which these people experience age(ing) and shows how these experiences can contribute to our understanding of age. Situated at the intersection of aging studies and medical humanities, the study explores what extraordinary age(ing) can tell us about aging processes in general.
Price: $55.00
Pages: 254
Publisher: transcript publishing
Imprint: transcript publishing
Series: Aging Studies
Publication Date:
27 October 2022
Trim Size: 8.86 X 5.83 in
ISBN: 9783837662771
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gerontology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General
Julia Velten, born in 1989, works as an assistant professor at the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz. She received her doctorate from there in 2021. She was a member of the DFG Research Group »Un/doing Differences: Practices of Human Differentiation« from 2016-2019 and was hosted as visiting PhD student at the Trent Centre for Aging and Society in 2017. Her research focuses on aging, medical humanities, and indigenous studies.
Frontmatter 1
Contents 5
Acknowledgements 9
Introduction 11
1 Theories of Age(ing) 19
Introduction 57
2 "I feel glorious": The 100th Birthday of Macklemore's Grandmother 63
3 The Normality of Being a Centenarian: A Day in the Life of Aldéa Pellerin-Cormier 81
4 Extraordinary 'Old' Age and (Auto)Biography: George Dawson's Life is So Good! at the Intersection of Age(ing), Race, and Class 105
5 Representations of Extraordinary 'Old' Age: Same, Same, but Different? 137
Introduction 143
6 Sensationalizing Disease: "Living with Progeria: Born Different" 151
7 Sam Berns: Progeria Between Clinical Trials and Lived Experience 175
8 Framing Progeria in an (Auto)Biography: Hayley Okines' Old Before My Time 197
9 Progeria Narratives at the intersection of Age(ing) and Illness 227
10 Conclusion 231
Bibliography 241
