Guest Speakers

Beyond Curing the Aged Body: Toward a Social Model of Old Age

At the turn of the twentieth century, the same scientists who were framing aging as a disease in need of professional intervention were simultaneously proposing scientific rejuvenation as the cure for the problem of aging.  This was a key moment in which the “problem” of aging was located in the bodies of aged individuals, establishing a medical model for aging that remains the dominant framework and cultural narrative.  This medical model focus on the aging body as problem-in-need-of-solution is evident across research and industry today: Google launched Calico Labs in 2013, joining several other giant biotech firms whose popularly understood goals are to “cure aging” and “solve death”;  the multibillion dollar anti-aging consumer industry promises more modestly to “turn back the clock”; and the prized gerontological concept of successful aging promises to “add life to years.” In this session, we will consider the consequences—for practices and policies, research agendas, and lived experiences of aging—of this medical model. Drawing on insights from disability studies, we will brainstorm ways to push back on this medical model of aging, focusing particularly on the social model of disability that locates the “problem” not in individual impairments but in the systemic barriers, negative attitudes, and exclusion by society which disable individuals. We will explore some age studies arguments addressing the social and cultural forces perpetuating ageism, and together, we will brainstorm what a robust social model of aging might look like, and what possible solutions to the “problem” of aging this model generates.

Dr. Erin Gentry Lamb is Herbert L. and Pauline Wentz Andrews Professor of Biomedical Humanities and Director of the Center for Literature and Medicine at Hiram College in Ohio. Her research and teaching interests include aging (with a particular focus on the social and ethical consequences of anti-aging medicine and consumer culture), death and dying, disability, bioethics, health care and social justice, new biotechnologies, and the pedagogy of health humanities and age studies. She is a founding member and past-chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies (NANAS).

Measured, monitored, optimized: Sociotechnical imaginaries of aging futures

In many Western nations, optimism is pinned on digital technologies as the solution to challenges posed by aging populations, from encouraging individuals to embrace active, risk-averse lifestyles to permitting more people to age at home rather than in care facilities.  However, a number of assumptions that underlie this optimism require investigation. Beginning from the premise that both ‘aging’ and ‘technology’ are socially produced, I ask how understandings of age and ‘success’ in aging are being produced in and through digital technologies. Drawing on my research with Stephen Katz on digital technologies such as wearable fitness trackers, digital ‘brain games’, and health informatics, I will illustrate some of the ways in which these technologies produce understandings of aging bodies as modifiable and open to optimization, but also inevitably in decline, and raise important questions about measurement, standardization and intervention. An agenda for research is suggested that explores the ways in which digital and ‘smart’ technologies integrate population surveillance, public policies (such as ‘active aging’ and ‘aging in place’) and consumer-directed health products into ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ of aging futures.

Dr. Barbara L. Marshall is Professor of Sociology at Trent University, and recipient of Trent’s Distinguished Research Award.  She teaches, researches and writes in the areas of gender, sexuality, aging and technologies, often with her colleague Stephen Katz.  A member of the ACT network, she is involved in two collaborative research projects on aging and technology.  “Digital Culture and Quantified Aging” (SSHRC) explores ways that emerging digital technologies quantify, track and reshape measures of age.  “Being Connected @Home” (CIHR in collaboration with the European More Years Better Lives initiative) investigates contemporary experiences of later life at the intersection of digital infrastructures, place and the experience of ‘being connected’.

Dr. Yasmin Jiwani is a full professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University.  Her research interests encompass issues of media, race, gender and intersectionalities of violence. Yasmin’s recent research focuses on the online memorialization of loss. In particular, her work focuses on cyber graveyards, with particular attention to how stories about the deceased are narrated on these sites, and how they maybe recounted in ways that celebrate the everyday struggles and achievements of marginalized peoples.

The Importance of Music for Persons Living with Dementia: Knowledge, Assumptions, and the Need for Professional Leadership

Research and anecdotal evidence indicate that knowledgeable use of music can improve quality of life for persons living with dementia (PLWD). However, it appears that best music practices for PLWD are not being fully/consistently realized and are generally not well understood. This lecture will challenge traditional notions of how dementia is often conceptualized (i.e., focus on disease, behaviours, and symptoms) and will integrate multiple forms of evidence, theoretical concepts, and practical rationale to demonstrate the need for an innovative best music practices model in dementia care.

Dr. Laurel Young is an accredited music therapist, the Music Therapy Graduate Programs Coordinator and an Associate Professor in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Concordia University. She has over 24 years of clinical experience in various areas including geriatrics/dementia, palliative care, community mental health, and developmental disabilities. She is the associate director of engAGE : Concordia’s Centre for Research on Aging.