Successful Aging as a Contemporary Obsession

"With public conversation about control of aging at an all-time high, these rich ethnographies from around the globe challenge stereotypes of success, failure, and ageism as they illustrate how vitality and vulnerability, independence, need, and care are resourcefully enacted. A timely corrective, this volume is essential for anyone interested in the diverse practices of interdependence and self-making in the world's ever-aging societies." -- Sharon R. Kaufman * author of Ordinary Medicine * "Lamb provides incisive deconstruction of modern notions of successful aging, offering a wealth of theoretical perspectives on, and ethnographic illustrations of, approaches to aging in different cultural settings across the globe." -- Jeanne Shea * Department of Anthropology and Center on Aging, University of Vermont * "[A] valuable aspect of Successful Aging as a Contemporary Obsession is its global perspective....Lamb has done extensive fieldwork in West Bengal, where, far from being idealized, 'too much independence is commonly regarded as the worst thing that can befall one in old age.'" * This Chair Rocks * "The book offers insightful and sometimes highly emotional accounts of how we find meaning in the limits of our human condition, making it a delightful read regardless of ones professional orientation." * Anthropology News *

SARAH LAMB is a professor of anthropology at Brandeis University. She is the author of White Saris and Sweet Mangoes: Aging, Gender, and Body in North India.

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Successful Aging as a Twenty-first-Century Obsession Sarah Lamb, Jessica Robbins-Ruszkowski, and Anna Corwin Part I Gender, Sexuality, and the Allure of Anti-Aging 1 Successful Aging, Ageism, and the Maintenance of Age and Gender Relations Toni Calasanti and Neal King 2 Opting In or Opting Out? North American Women Share Strategies for Aging Successfully with (and without) Cosmetic Intervention Abigail T. Brooks 3 Aging Out: Ageism, Heterosexism, and Racism among Aging African American Lesbians and Gay Men Imani Woody 4 Erectile Dysfunction as Successful Aging in Mexico Emily Wentzell Part II Ideals of Independence, Interdependence, and Intimate Sociality in Later Life 5 Beyond Independence: Older Chicagoans Living Valued Lives Elana D. Buch 6 Growing Old with God: An Alternative Vision of Successful Aging among Catholic Nuns Anna I. Corwin 7 Aspiring to Activity: Universities of the Third Age, Gardening, and Other Forms of Living in Postsocialist Poland Jessica Robbins-Ruszkowski 8 Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot? Friendship in the Face of Dementia Janelle S. Taylor Part III National Policies and Everyday Practices: Individual and Collective Projects of Aging Well 9 Getting Old and Keeping Going: The Motivation Technologies of Active Aging in Denmark Aske Juul Lassen and Astrid Pernille Jespersen 10 Foolish Vitality: Humor, Risk, and Success in Japan Jason Danely 11 Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing Judith Farquhar and Qicheng Zhang 12 Depreciating Age, Disintegrating Ties: On Being Old in a Century of Declining Elderhood in Kenya Janet McIntosh Part IV Medicine, Morality, and Self: Lessons from Lifes Ends 13 Successful Selves? Heroic Tales of Alzheimers Disease and Personhood in Brazil Annette Leibing 14 Comfortable Aging: Lessons for Living from Eighty-five and Beyond Meika Loe 15 Ageless Aging or Meaningful Decline? Aspirations of Aging and Dying in the United States and India Sarah Lamb Epilogue: Successful Aging and Desired Interdependence Susan Reynolds Whyte Notes on Contributors Index