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- Convenors:
-
Ladan Rahbari
(University of Amsterdam)
Katrien De Graeve (Ghent University)
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- Stream:
- Who Speaks and for Whom?
- Sessions:
- Monday 29 March, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel aims to bring together scholars who use critical perspectives that interrogate the existing media imageries and public discourses which render or represent older bodies as invisible, irrelevant and unruly; and to discuss theoretical and practical solutions and counternarratives.
Long Abstract:
There is a lot of othering, marginalization and stigmatization involved in ways that the effects of age on human bodies are portrayed, represented and discussed in the public and media discourses. There are also gendered and widespread negative perceptions on aging and its impact on sexuality, physicality and embodiment. In a large proportion of the existing public and media debates on bodily activity and enjoyment, the aging/aged body – especially that of women – is problematized if not pathologized and medicalized. The changes in different forms of bodily abilities that older people might experience, are generally considered to incapacitate older people or equal dependence, and, what is more, changes in dependence are simultaneously problematized, as if it makes people somehow less worthy. This panel aims to bring together scholars who use critical perspectives that scrutinize the existing social perspectives, cultural beliefs, and political dynamics which render or represent older bodies as invisible, irrelevant and unruly and to discuss theoretical and practical solutions and counternarratives. The panel welcomes contributors who interrogate media imageries and public discourses on old persons’ gendered embodiment and physicality within any (trans)national context. We solicit papers that include – among other topics – the study of discourses on old age and physical activity, sports, body management and cosmetic practices, sexuality etc. with an anthropological approach. The panel conveners are affiliated with the Centre for Research on Culture and Gender (Ghent University).
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Monday 29 March, 2021, -Erica Debeljak (Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU)
Paper short abstract:
The paper will address the use of life writing as a contemporary form of rite-of-passage for widows and menopausal women. It will draw on the structures of illness narratives to illustrate what types of stories emerge, and also to polemicise the stigmatisation of these social categories.
Paper long abstract:
In the absence of socially shared rites of passage in contemporary secular societies, autobiographical writing has become a method not only of privately negotiating certain life transitions but also of forcing stigmatised identities into the public space. It is thus not only inward and therapeutic (a way of defining the evolving self), but also outward and communicative (a way of making stigmatised identities visible). I will focus on menopausal women and widows, female liminars who must negotiate the passage from being recognized, even celebrated (fertile, wife) to less-recognized, even invisible (infertile, manless). These female categories are additionally stigmatised: the widow because of her association with tabooised death, the menopausal woman because of contemporary society’s obsession with youth, particularly as regards female sexuality and the body. I will use specific examples to compare and contrast female bereavement and menopausal memoirs using the three narrative structures defined by Arthur W. Frank in The Wounded Storyteller: restitution, chaos, and quest. All are narratives of interruption. Restitution involves a return to normal status following the interruption. Chaos represents madness, permanent liminality, loss of chronology. The quest narrative, where the interruption ultimately leads to transformation, is the most similar to the three-part rite of passage. The blending of anthropological and narrative approaches will allow me to question the growing pathologisation and medicalisation of both grief and menopause, as well as the stereotypes – desexualised, invisible – that adhere to older women in general.
Jong-Min Jeong (Chonnam National University)
Paper short abstract:
Drawing on Ingold’s dwelling perspective and Wetherell’s affective practices I demonstrate how a person living with dementia responds to her vulnerable and anxious feelings, imaginations and/or emotions, focusing in particular on her affective performativity.
Paper long abstract:
What if a woman living with dementia in a care home keeps telling you that she wants to go home? How would you react, and what would you do? In what way can we, as anthropologists, approach and understand the situation and person ethnographically when studying dementia? Drawing on Ingold’s dwelling perspective and Wetherell’s affective practices I demonstrate how the woman who desires to go home responds to her vulnerable and anxious feelings, imaginations and/or emotions. Accordingly, I demonstrate the affective performativity through which she resonates with her ever-changing worldly surroundings. I argue that her bodily sayings, doings and actions should not be perceived as mere pathological symptoms but as forms of co-dwelling within her limited capacity, which becomes a particular way of encountering and (un)familiarising with her utmost existential crisis. Finally, I suggest that we pay more attention to the situation that she is saturated and quite often overwhelmed by, that ‘allow’ her bodily affective attentions and attunements, rather than focusing on what she is capable of.
Annemerel De Blaere Ladan Rahbari (University of Amsterdam)
Paper short abstract:
There is a general silence when it comes to embodied experiences of older women. Their perceptions are often perceived as irrelevant in studies concerning beauty and embodiment. This paper explores women's beauty practice in retirement homes. What is the value and significance of beauty for them?
Paper long abstract:
There is a general silence in research when it comes to embodied experiences of older women. Older women are specially excluded from studies on beauty and embodiment because their age is perceived as a factor that makes their experience irrelevant. Older women also seldom occupy the position of the agentic subjects. This study explores women’s beauty practice in retirement homes where they might experience limitations in space, stricter everyday routines, different social surroundings, and possible increase or decrease in independence. We employ a qualitative approach to explore the personal experiences, perceptions and narratives that reveal the (in)significance of beauty practices as well as time and effort invested in them. The main questions that we ask are, ‘how prevalent are beauty practices in Flemish retirement homes’ and ‘what are the perceptions of older women on beauty practices and their significance in the daily lives of female residents in retirement homes?’
Nika Looman (Ghent University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores 50+ transgender women’s performances of gender, sexuality, and (older) age on online dating platforms in Belgium. The paper centralizes these performances to reveal and/or challenge ageist and cissexist normativities of sexiness, dating, and (online) intimacy.
Paper long abstract:
Little is known about the experiences of 50+ transgender women that are active on dating apps and websites. On these dating platforms, women are expected to live up to societal norms of beauty. At the same time, there may also be room for agency with regard to one’s own performance of gender, sexuality, and (older) age. In this paper, I adopt a new materialist approach to gain insights into how these counter-hegemonic performances are embodied in Belgium's digital spheres. I move beyond a sole focus on the human experience in order to include images, sounds and visual effects that are important in digital spheres.
In dominant, heteronormative notions of ageing, longevity, generativity, and heteronormative sexual attractiveness are central. When it comes to beauty, there are certain expectations that are thought to fit 50+ women. These are connected to maintaining a youthful appearance. When signifiers of an ageing body can no longer be masked, some beauty and body management practices are considered ‘too sexy’ rather than sexually attractive. These expectations apply for 50+ transgender women as well. Moreover, trans women are expected to render their gender performances intelligible in dominant discourse. Hence, while feminine, sexy clothes are deemed inappropriate for their age, presenting more androgynously may be unhelpful in ‘passing’ as women. By looking into 50+ trans women’s performances, I explore dominant notions of sexuality, sexiness, attractiveness, and how (online) dating and intimacy are challenged and redefined.