The globalisation of ageing is an ongoing phenomenon which is changing the demographics of the planet. It is one of the biggest challenges faced by modern...

Cultural Narratives of Ageing (CMII0153)

The globalisation of ageing is an ongoing phenomenon which is changing the demographics of the planet. It is one of the biggest challenges faced by modern societies and one of the defining trends of our time. This module studies the aesthetic responses to the experience of ageing - not limited to old age - and explores the potential of narrative in addressing the challenges associated with ageing. Moving across narrative traditions and mediums, it offers insights into qualitative methods for understanding the use of literature, gender studies and intersectional approaches.  

  

In line with increased life expectancy, the turn of the century has seen a proliferation of fictional works dedicated to old age in the last thirty years. Drawing on key critical texts such as Simone de Beauvoir’s The Coming of Age, and canonical texts on ageing such as Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice and Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, this course examines how the experience of ageing has changed in contemporary societies, questioning how it varies across intersectional axes such as gender, race, class and origins. 

  

The focus will be on the ageing body (Philip Roth, Doris Lessing), care (Alice Munro, Anita Desai), queer and trans ageing (Bernardine Evaristo, Jackie Jay), widowhood (Joan Didion), and new affective experiences (J. M. Coetzee). Drawing on these topics, we will examine the potential of ageing as a radical critique of hegemonic discourses on gender and re/productivity. 

  

Finally, the module compares fictional and non-fictional accounts of ageing to cinematic narrations, such as Haneke’s Amour (2012) and James Mangold’s Logan (2017), and to recent TV series, such as Netflix’s Grace and Frankie (2014), The Kominsky Method (2018), and Amazon’s Transparent (2014). 

 

 

In this module we will critically examine the contested nature and form of education in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. We will reflect on and discuss...