This seminar is organized by four integrated thematic modules:
- Module 1: The Language of Aging (Weeks 1-3)
- Module 2: The Aging Self (Weeks 4-6)
- Module 3: Pathologies of Aging (Weeks 7-8)
- Module 4: Living Assisted (Weeks 9-12)
Week 1: What is it to grow old?
Primary:
- Applewhite, “Aging/Healing” (poem), The South Atlantic Quarterly 103, no. 1 (2004): 101-109.
Critical:
- Various authors, “Age Studies: Credos, Manifestos, Reflections from Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal 1 (2014)
- pick a few and explore your interests
- Charise and Eginton, “Arts and the Aging Mind”, from The Wiley Handbook on the Aging Mind and Brain, First Edition. Eds. Matthew Rizzo, Steven Anderson, and Bernd Fritzsch. John Wiley & Sons, April 2018. 78-99.
OPTIONAL:
- Priscila Uppal, “One-Hundred and Ten Metre Hurdles” (poem)
- Fraser & Al-Sayah, “Arts Based Methods in Health”
- “The Arts and Aging: Building the Science”
- Hanna et al. Arts Health Aging in America 2005-2015.pdf
Week 2: The Language of Aging
Primary:
- King Lear (pp.1-72, up to Act III Scene 2)
Critical:
- Woodward, “Introduction” (FA)
OPTIONAL:
- Rossiter et al, “Staging Data: Theatre as a tool for analysis and knowledge transfer in health research”
- Atwood, “Lear in Respite Care” (poem)
- Optional: Film screening, King Lear (2008, starring Ian McKellan)
Week 3: The Language of Aging, cont.
Primary:
- King Lear (pp.73-140, Act III Scene 2 to end);
Critical:
- Gullette (FA)
OPTIONAL:
- Film: Baghban (The Gardener, 2003) [Hindi; link to movie with English subtitles]
- South Korea: Suicide Nation (2015)
- A 25-minute documentary that chronicles the rise of suicide among older persons–and other age groups–in South Korea. If you choose to watch, be sure to watch right until the end where a surprising, arts-oriented initiative is suggested as a possible therapeutic intervention for suicide (and therefore an interesting resonance with our reading of King Lear, especially Gloucester’s agony in Act 4).
Week 4: Aging, Selfhood, and Confronting Decline
Primary:
- Larkin, “The Old Fools” (poem)
- The Terrace Players: Voices of the Terrace (Baycrest Hospital; video) [brief PDF and description]
Critical:
- Russo (FA)
OPTIONAL:
- Kinnell, “Parkinson’s Disease” (poem)
Week 5: Age, Race, and the Burden of Identity
Primary:
- O’Connor, “Everything That Rises Must Converge” (brief notes on short story writer Flannery O’Connor’s work and this particular short story collection here)
Critical:
- Brennan (FA)
OPTIONAL:
- Mohja Kahf, “My Grandmother Washes Her Feet in the Sink of the Bathroom at Sears” (poem)
- Katz, “Busy Bodies: Activity, Aging, and the Management of Everyday Life”
- Matunda, “Coconut Oil and the Contradictions of Time”
Week 6: Special Guest Visit by Hartley Jafine, Applied Theatre and Healthcare Facilitator (McMaster University)
- Watch Jafine’s TEDx talk, Dramatic Arts and Health
- Readings TBA; stay tuned.
Week 7: Narratives of Dementia (I)
Primary:
- Ignatieff, Scar Tissue (1-108)
Critical:
- Cole (FA)
- Fuchs (FA)
OPTIONAL:
- Whitehouse and George, “The War (on Terror) on Alzheimer’s”
- “Rethinking Brain Health” (video, Baycrest Hospital)
Week 8: Narratives of Dementia (II)
Primary:
Ignatieff, Scar Tissue (109-198)
Critical:
Basting, Forget Memory
OPTIONAL:
- DeFalco, “Dementia, Caregiving, and Narrative in Michael Ignatieff’s Scar Tissue”
- Zeilig, “Dementia as a Cultural Metaphor”
Week 9: Technologies of Intergeneration: From Anti-Aging to Anti-Ageism
Critical:
- Woodward, “Inventing” (FA)
- Sobchack (FA)
Creative:
Chang, “My Father Says” (Q) + class choice! Pick from the following:
- Komori, “Embodied Futures: A Comic About Aging Together”
- Campbell, “These Memories Won’t Last” (make sure you have sound on; additional notes regarding this artwork and digital “obsolescence” here)
- Moorhouse, “Sounds of Forgetting” (additional artist’s statement here)
- “Connected” (short film, 10 mins; starring Pamela Anderson, Dir. Luke Gilford; 2016)
OPTIONAL:
- Squier (FA)
- Aging + Communications + Technologies (ACT) Project
- Charise, “Rising Tide, Grey Tsunami: Charting the History of A Dangerous Metaphor”. Podcast created for Canadian Geriatrics Society Podcast Series. Episode 3, 2012.
- Charise, “Stop Dehumanizing Old People by Using the Phrase ‘Grey Tsunami’.” CBC The Sunday Edition [Featured Interview with Michael Enright, 25 mins]. October 15, 2017. Radio. Read and listen here. (This interview has lots of discussion of past offerings of HLTD51!) 🙂
Week 10: In-class film screening, Robot and Frank (2012)
- Robot and Frank Trailer
REQUIRED:
- Woodward, “A public secret: assisted living, caregivers, globalization.” International Journal of Ageing and Later Life, 2012 7(2): 1751.
Week 11: Healing Machines? Posthuman Aging
Critical:
- Aronson, “The Future of Robot Caregivers”
- Tufekci, “Failing the Third Machine Age: When Robots Come for Grandma”
Creative:
- Wernet, “Paro Robbe” portrait series.
OPTIONAL
- Collins et al, “Saying it with Light: A Pilot Study of Affective Communication Using the MIRO Robot”
Videos:
Week 12: Final Project Showcase: What is it to grow old?
- Final Project Due Monday December 3rd