The New Age of Aging

Given at HILR

Study Group Leader: Rhoada Wald

Description: “Is it too blissful to imagine, as our goal, being able to feel at home in the life course at any age?” This quote is from the timely and multifaceted book, Aged by Culture, by Margaret Morganroth Gullette. In this text, Dr. Gullette elegantly examines and challenges the hidden cultural roots of this stage of life. Her vision will serve as a point of departure for class discussions on the commonalities, riches, limitations and possibilities that impact our lives. How can we define this stage of life? How can we discover the range of realistic possibilities and, at the same time, transcend the clichés myths, and stereotypes about age? Dr. Gullette, a professor at Brandeis, will join us for one session.

Syllabus

Session 1. The Nature and Implications of Culture for the Older Adult

An Introduction

“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” Albert Einstein

Define culture. How is culture revealed? What are the characteristics of culture? What are the implications for the older adult?

Session 2. The Life Cycle and the Second Half of Life

Complete the life cycle exercise.

Session 3. The Life Cycle: Reexamination and Liberation

Session 4. Speaker: Dr. Margaret Morganroth Gullette

Session 5. Education and Culture

Session 6: Summary, Evaluation and Next Steps

Bibliography

Text: Gullette, Margaret Morganroth. Aged by Culture, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004

Articles and sections that have been duplicated have been selected from the books on this list. Please use this resource in any way that you find comfortable. The only required readings are listed in the syllabus. This bibliography is meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive regarding resources that are available for this study.

Berrin, Susan. ed., A Heart of Wisdom: Making the Journey from Midlife Through

The Elder Years. Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont. 2000.

Forty contributors discuss their own experiences of aging from the perspective of

the life cycle, personal memory, poetry, challenge, etc.

Cohen, Gene D. The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain. New York; Basic Books, 2005. This book presents a new paradigm of aging that reframes the later stages of life as a set of developmental phases promoting growth and change. Several chapters were used for handouts.

Cole, Thomas R., Robert Kastenbaum, Ruth E. Ray, Editors. Handbook of Humanities and Aging. 2^nd edition. New York, Springer Publishing Co. 2000. A series of essays on the disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and humanistic approaches and themes in the study of aging.

Cole, Thomas R. The Journey of Life: A Cultural History of Aging in America. Cambridge, Boston, Cambridge University A history of the cultural images of the life course focusing on images of aging. The final section presents a postmodern view of changes and opportunity. Several chapters were used for handouts. Press. 1992.

Gilleard, Christopher and Paul Higgs. Cultures of Ageing: Self, Citizen, and the Body.

Harlow, England. 2000. The authors examine lifestyle changes in relation to the key issues of self-image, society, and the body. The authors are English and present an interesting perspective on American culture... Several chapters were used for handouts.

Dershowitz, Alan. “The Right to Choose How and When to End One’s Life.”

Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age.

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

A personal and brilliant portrait of the year after the death of her husband, John Dunne...

Erikson, Erik H. Childhood And Society. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1975

Erikson, Erik H. ed., Adulthood. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Inc. 1978. . This book is a series of essays by different authors representing adulthood from various disciplines. The book begins with Erikson’s well-known essay,”Reflections on Dr. Borg’s Life, Cycle,” a brilliant analysis of Ingmar Bergman’s film, WildStrawberries.

Terkel, Studs. Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who’ve Lived It.

New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1995. Verbatim interviews focusing on aging, identity, work, social justice, etc. “Helen Nearing, 90,” Pg. 446-451. For the session on the life cycle, “Stetson Kennedy, 77,” Pg. 391-400.

Roth, Philip. Everyman. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006. A fictional account of one man’s feelings, attitudes and behaviors during the last stage of his life. This book is haunting and painful because it opens up so many of the issues people are dealing with at this stage of life.

Rowe, John W., M.D., and Robert L. Kahn. Ph.D. Successful Aging. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1998. The authors describe the objectives, methods and results of the Macarthur Foundation study of aging in America.

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