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El presente trabajo examina el cuento “La respiración cavernaria” de Samanta Schweblin a la luz de los estudios literarios sobre la vejez. Se sostiene que la representación del envejecimiento a través de la experiencia de Lola, la protagonista, erosiona los códigos hegemónicos de la construcción social de la ancianidad. Se propone el relato de Schweblin como una obra que teoriza sobre el proceso del envejecimiento, con base en la propuesta de Amelia DeFalco en su libro Uncanny Subjects: Aging in Contemporary Narrative. A través de la disposición del espacio doméstico y la carga significativa de sus objetos, el cuento captura la pérdida de memoria de su protagonista. Esto se refleja en la narración deficiente que imita el pensamiento de Lola, así como en algunas herramientas narrativas afines a la literatura fantástica. La vejez conlleva un costo afectivo, por lo cual se hace referencia a las ideas de Sara Ahmed en La política cultural de las emociones para desmontar el vínculo entre el envejecimiento y la vergüenza. Lola pierde paulatinamente la habilidad de narrar y se aferra a vínculos afectivos que le permiten tener continuidad identitaria. Así, el cuento explora la relación inestable entre la construcción de la identidad y la capacidad narrativa., This article examines Samanta Schweblin’s short story “La respiración cavernaria” in light of aging studies in literature. I argue that the portrayal of the protagonist’s aging process questions the normative codes that prevail in the social construct of old age. I propose Schewblin’s story as a theorizing fictional account of aging, based on Amelia DeFalco’s thesis in her book “Uncanny Subjects: Aging in Contemporary Narrative”. The story captures its protagonist’s memory loss through the layout of the domestic space and the objects that fill it, as well as through the deficient narration and some literary figures that echo those used in fantastic literature. Aging also entails an affective cost, which is why I draw from Sara Ahmed’s ideas in her book “La política cultural de las emociones” to explore the link between old age and shame. Schweblin’s story shows a protagonist who slowly loses her ability to narrate and instead clings to affective bonds that give her continuity in her identity. In this way, the story explores the unstable relationship between the construction of identity and narrative ability.

In diesem Beitrag greifen wir auf Erfahrungen im Rahmen eines digitalen Erzählworkshops im Mai 2016 zurück, an dem Aktivistinnen und Forscherinnen aus vier Generationen teilnahmen, um ihre Geschichten zu teilen und festzuhalten. Mittels Beobachtungsnotizen und des Feedbacks der Teilnehmerinnen untersuchen wir, ob und in welcher Weise durch den Workshop Konventionen der Wissensproduktion, Alter(n)svorstellungen und intergenerationale Skripte herausgefordert wurden. Wir nutzen das Konzept eines feministischen, intergenerationalen Mikrofons und zeigen, dass die Potenz dieser Methodologie, Normen infrage zu stellen, nicht darin bestanden hat, dass wir Zugang zu Mikrofonen ermöglichten, sondern in der Umsetzung spezifischer routinisierter feministischer und intergenerationaler Praktiken. Mit dem Artikel wollen wir zum Diskurs über feministische Methodologien, über Macht und Verletzlichkeit in der Forschung, über partizipative Mediennutzung und über Altern(s)forschung beitragen., In this article, we reflect on the methodology of a digital storytelling workshop held in May 2016, gathering activists and academics across four generations to share and record their activist histories. Drawing on observational notes and participant feedback, we investigate whether and how the workshop challenged knowledge-production conventions, ageist assumptions, and intergenerational scripts. We offer the concept of a feminist intergenerational mic, arguing that the norm-challenging possibilities of this methodology lay not in providing access to a mic, but rather in particular, routinized, feminist and intergenerational practices. Through this article, we contribute to conversations about feminist methodologies, power and vulnerability in research, participatory media creation, and aging studies.

Following the so-called revolution of longevity, which was initiated after the Second World War, and as a result of recent scientific and social changes, multidisciplinary studies of old age, aging and ageism have increasingly been regarded as a necessity in our contemporary developed -and aged- societies. Consequently, and together with gender, class and ethnicity, age has become a prominent social and cultural marker which is explored by different discourses both as an ever-changing site of identity, and as a potential source of social discrimination. Cultural representations of aging have changed throughout the last decades in order to accommodate the increasingly plural realities whereby old age can be recognized and categorized, thereby contributing to the transformation of ‘age’ as a construct and identity marker. Out of the various artistic and communicative channels whereby old age is constantly re-presented, the theater stands out as an especially enlightening medium through which the constructedness of aging and ensuing stereotypical visions of old men and women can be explored. This paper will analyze the re-presentation of aging and its intersections with the politics of gender and class in Joanna McClelland Glass’ Mrs Dexter and Her Daily (2010). As a naturalistic two-hander which constructs its protagonists through realistic psychological portraits, the last play that this Canadian-American playwright has published to date presents two female characters in their mid-sixties whose old age is not only submitted to “the double standard” through which women’s aging is measured, to borrow from Susan Sontag’s words, but also conditioned by their diverse social positions and distinctive fictional biographies. Using theater semiotics and the latest theories of cultural gerontology as the two main methodological frameworks for this particular case study, this paper hopes to demonstrate that the theater continues to be an invaluable source of inquiry with regard to significant aspects of human life. At the same time, it intends to highlight the centrality of the experience of aging in its interconnection with other identity markers such as gender and class, as well as in the discourses that are derived from them.

Purpose of the Study: In The L oneliness of the Dying (1985), sociologist Norbert Elias claims that “aging” and “old age” have become frightening, almost taboo terms in Western society because death is increasingly made invisible in advanced societies. Years ago, death was a part of life and the dead were granted the honor of passing away in their homes, surrounded by their communities; in present-day society, most have never seen a corpse and are ignorant of anything related to death. Design and Methods: According to Elias, the consequences of this distancing from death have been a distancing from the aging process as a whole. This paper aims to analyze to what extent Norbert Elias’s theories about death and the aging process are reflected in contemporary British fiction, using two novels as case studies. Results: Ending Up (1974) and These Foolish Things (2004) depict older British characters who decide to share their last years when they realize that they are increasingly forgotten and invisible both within their communities and their families. Implications: In eac h of their particular styles, bleak and ironic in the case of Kingsley Amis’s Ending Up, and refreshingly humorous and moving in the case of Deborah Moggach’s These Foolish Things, both authors reflect on possible outcomes for an increasingly aging population.

The effect of cryorolling on microstructural evolution and aging characteristics of an Al-4Zn-2Mg alloy is investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) and hardness measurements. The Al-4Zn-2Mg alloy in solutionized condition was cryorolled to achieve 70-90% deformation. The cryorolled samples were short annealed followed by three different aging treatments viz., natural aging, peak aging and over aging. The EBSD results suggest the presence of ultrafine grains in the cryorolled alloy. DSC thermograms and aging studies revealed that cryorolling enhances the aging kinetics of the alloy. The two-step peak aging treatment indicated that the degree of peak hardness is directly proportional to the extent of deformation and the time to attain it varied inversely with respect to the amount of deformation. TEM studies of cryorolled and peak aged (CRPA) samples showed large number of uniformly distributed, finer and closely spaced ?' strengthening precipitates when compared to bigger precipitates in coarse grain peak aged (CGPA) alloy. Variations in precipitate distribution and morphology between CRPA and CGPA alloys are attributed to the stored energy and high density of dislocations generated during cryorolling. � 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Growing "old" in contemporary American society often means being seen as a problem: you threaten the stability of Social Security and Medicare; cutting-edge science seeks a cure for what ages you; cosmetic companies and health magazines sell you products and strategies for holding on to your youth as long as possible. The Age of Obsolescence: Senescence and Scientific Rejuvenation in Twentieth Century America traces the emergence of these attitudes toward old age back to the turn of the twentieth century when a publicly shared conception of aging was emerging in relation to advances in science and medicine, industrialized labor practices, a slowly developing welfare state, demographic observations of increased life expectancy, changing gender roles and expressions of national identity. During that time, the quest for the fountain of youth shifted from the stuff of legend to a driving motivation behind modern science.In the four chapters of this dissertation, I bring literary critical methods to bear on literary and scientific texts, public health tracts, journalistic accounts, advertisements and public records. Through this survey of science, government and popular culture, I document the formation of several cultural narratives of aging--or, formulaic ways of addressing aging produced by repeated metaphors, imagery and story lines--that circulated with reciprocal influence through all of these spheres, determining attitudes toward, and experiences of, aging at that moment and into the present. After briefly exploring our contemporary "anti-aging" culture, the four chapters of The Age of Obsolescence address the framing of a moral responsibility for aging individuals to "take care of themselves" as a duty to their nation; the association of aging with obsolescence and its influence on worker's experiences and industrial practices; the scientific and cultural construction of aging as a disease in need of professional intervention; and the proposed "cure" for this problem of aging: scientific rejuvenation, particularly the glandular rejuvenation fad of the 1920s. My conclusion traces this fervor for scientific rejuvenation into the present, showing how the turn-of-the-century cultural logic of aging has become a taken-for-granted framework of American popular culture today. In illuminating the historical moment when the "problem" of aging was located in the bodies of aged individuals, I point toward solutions that may arise not from scientific discovery, but from rewriting these cultural narratives of aging and old age and restructuring the national practices that stem from them.

Die Alterung der Gesellschaft zwingt zur erneuten Auseinandersetzung mit den Grundlagen des Sozialstaates. Können die drängenden Probleme der demographischen Entwicklung noch mit dem Verweis auf Solidarität gelöst werden oder muss man Wohlfahrt neu konzeptionalisieren? Bisher wurde diese Frage allein mit Blick auf die Lage in Deutschland und den westlichen Staaten mit ähnlichem kulturellen Hintergrund diskutiert. Doch ein Vergleich mit Japan zeigt gänzlich andere Wege und Möglichkeiten auf. Am Beispiel der Pflegeversicherungen in beiden Ländern werden Ansätze und Strukturen verglichen und so verfestigte Wahrnehmungsmuster aufgebrochen.