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CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
"Live Gerontology": Understanding and Representing Aging, Loneliness, and Long-Term Care Through Science and Art
The Gerontologist, Vol.63(10), pp.1581-1590
2023
PMID: 37354206
Abstract
This article proposes an expansive conceptualization of gerontological research by engaging with a "live gerontology" that combines sciences and arts to better understand and represent aging and its diverse meanings and contexts. Borrowing the sociological concept of "live methods," we argue that gerontology can benefit from a "live" approach-not only methodologically, but also conceptually. To guide pathways between artistic and gerontological fields and frame its practices and outcomes, we suggest four propositions for a live gerontology: (1) using multiple genres to artfully connect the whole-interweaving micro-, meso-, and macrolevels to contextualize aging within various sociocultural milieus; (2) fostering the use of the senses to capture more than just what people say-what they do, display, and feel; (3) enabling a critical inventiveness by relying on arts' playfulness to design/refine instruments; and (4) ensuring a constant reflection on ethics of representation and public responsibility. To apply and experiment with a live gerontological approach, we describe collaborations with an award-winning writer and an illustrator. The collaborations drew on qualitative data from a study on lived experiences of loneliness in long-term care through ethnography and interviews with residents of 2 Australian facilities. The writer explored participants' accounts as creative stories, which were then illustrated. Motivated by an ethics of representation, we aimed to represent findings without othering or further marginalizing participants. The creative materials offered more than appealing representations, shining new light on the intricate nature of aging, loneliness, institutionalization, and gerontology research and practice.
Details
- Title
- "Live Gerontology": Understanding and Representing Aging, Loneliness, and Long-Term Care Through Science and Art
- Authors/Creators
- Barbara Barbosa Neves - Monash UniversityJosephine Wilson - Murdoch University, School of Humanities, Arts and Social SciencesAlexandra Sanders - Monash UniversityRenata Kokanović - RMIT UniversityKate Burns - Monash University
- Publication Details
- The Gerontologist, Vol.63(10), pp.1581-1590
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.
- Grant note
- Monash University University of Melbourne Early-Career Award
- Identifiers
- 991005623668607891
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2023.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 1 Clinical & Life Sciences
- 1.112 Palliative Care
- 1.112.1789 Ageism
- Web Of Science research areas
- Gerontology
- ESI research areas
- Clinical Medicine