Visibly aging: On aspiring to be an old woman

Franklin, Alex

Abstract

This paper will outline the methodological rationale behind the use of an analytic autoethnographic (Anderson 2006) approach to the study of aging when the researcher is not a full member of the (age) group being studied.

In this instance the author is a woman in her 40s studying the role that clothing consumption and dress practices play in the articulation or silencing of older women's (65+) ever-evolving identities in the UK. By identifying common intersecting experiences, autoethnography is here employed as a means of addressing the othering frequently inherent in research concerning 'the elderly'. As well as necessitating a public sharing of personal narratives alongside those of the research informants, which goes someway to collapse the traditional and problematic subject-object power dichotomy, an autoethnographic approach makes visible ageing as a continuum, the partitioning of which is largely both arbitrary and unhelpful to those obliged to embody the related cultural practices.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Aging & Society 2016: Sixth Interdisciplinary Conference
• Start Date: Oct 6, 2016
• End Date: Oct 7, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Mar 9, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: autoethnography, ethics, clothing, aging, ageing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/918903
• Publisher URL: http://agingandsociety.com/2016-conference
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Aging & Society 2016: Sixth Interdisciplinary Conference