Every five years or so, the AAA meetings fall a little later in the year, making us wish the meetings were some place warm (remember New Orleans 2010?) rather than a city with an average December HIGH of about 47F degrees (remember Philadelphia 2009?).

Nonetheless, it is sure to be a good turnout this year, with hundreds of sessions, posters, exhibitors, installations (including the always thought provoking Ethnographic Terminalia), and a keynote speech by Bruno Latour.

If you are a member of AAGE or the AAA on Anthropology of Aging and the Life Course Interest Group , the first things to put on your itinerary are the Interlocutor Session, the Interest Group business meeting, and the dinner.

Dec 5 (Friday) 1:00-2:15PM, Wilson A Marriot Wardman Park

Interlocutor event with Mary Catherine Bateson about “Adulthood 2.0” and reception for recent book authors (Bianca Brijnath, Jason Danely and others). While an accomplished writer and educator, Mary Catherine Bateson is perhaps best known for her work on aging, including Composing a Life (1989) and Composing a Further Life (2010). In the latter, Bateson (who turns 75 on December 8 of this year), takes up the challenge of adapting the psychosocial life course development theories to current realities of longevity and diverse trajectories, proposing a new stage in life that she calls “Adulthood 2.0.”

Jay Sokolovsky organized the event and he and Athena McLean will be asking her about this and her other work on aging and anthropology.

 Dec 6 (Saturday) 1:00-2:15, Wilson A, Marriot Wardman Park

AAGE/AAA Interest Group Business meeting

Learn about what the group is up to, raise your voice and get involved in decisions and new projects (including contributing to the website!). This group relies on a lot of individuals, and we invite anyone (members or not) to attend and get to know us!

 Dec 6 (evening) – AAGE/Interest Group dinner (8PM, location and details  TBA)

Now for the panels
I did a quick search for relevant terms and topics (aging is still not a key word for the AAA program), then I solicited responses via the Facebook page, and listserv.  If I did not list your panel, and you would like to advertise it here, I highly encourage you to write a comment below. In the interest of space, I will not include full abstracts, but I will list date, time, location, and titles/presenters. If you are a AAA member, you can login and use the links to add these panels to your personal scheduler.

Wednesday, December 3

12-1:45pm, Thurgood Marshall North

NAVIGATING THE NIH FUNDING STREAM: NIH FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ANTHROPOLOGISTS

This workshop, co-chaired by AAGE member Mark Luborsky (Wayne State) and Linda Hunt (MSU) is bound to be full of practical information from anthropologists with a track record or NIH funding.

Thursday, December 4

2:30-4:15pm, McKinley

PRODUCING COMPASSION: AFFECTIVE LABOR, INTERSUBJECTIVE PRACTICE, AND THE POLITICS OF ELDERCARE

Chair: Elana D Buch, University of Iowa
Organizer: Jason A Danely, Oxford Brookes University, and Elana D Buch, University of Iowa
Discussant: Paul E Brodwin, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Circulating Compassion: Claims of Deservingness Among Chicago Home Care Workers- Elana D Buch, University of Iowa

Compassion in Action?: Love, Pity, and Distraction in Thai Buddhist Eldercare- Felicity Aulino, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Practicing Compassion: Worthy Suffering Among Older Persons in the Netherlands- Jolanda Lindenberg, Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing

Compassionate Subjectivity: Producing and Managing Ethics and Affects of Family Caregivers of Older Adults in Japan– Jason A Danely, Oxford Brookes University

This panel was the result of discussions Elana and I had about the concept of “compassion” as it has been used in clinical and social care settings and the need to understand and practiced differently in different cultural contexts. While I was at first interested mostly in how Japanese Buddhists practiced compassion in secular contexts, Elana was suggested that we needed to pay attention to political contexts, including the role of anthropologist as a potential producer of compassion. This is also the first of many panels about “care,” some organized by AAGE members as well, but I did not list all of them here if they did not relate to aging or the life course (for example, 2-04060 TEMPORALITIES OF CARE; THE LABOR OF CARE  )

6:30-8:15PM Suite C

NEW TRENDS IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF TIME AND MEMORY

Chair: Ender Ricart, University of Chicago

Emerging Ontology of the Aging Society Crisis in Japan: Differentiation of Care and Prevention and the Re-Figuration of the Aging Process, Old Age, Sociality, and Life-Worlds– Ender Ricart, Univ. Chicago

Friday, December 5

2:30-4:15 PM

Session Title:     PRODUCING HEALTH POLICY WITH ANTHROPOLOGY: CASE STUDIES OF PLANNING, IMPLEMENTING AND EVALUATING POLICY

3-3:15 PM   Policy “Trickling up”: Hurricane Preparedness Policy for People with Alzheimer’s Disease or a Related Dementia –Janelle J. Christensen, Palm Beach State College

Saturday, December 6

9:00-10:45am Jackson

SUCCESSFUL AGING: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF A 21ST-CENTURY OBSESSION

Organizers: Sarah E Lamb, Brandeis, Jessica C Robbins-Ruszkowski, Wayne State U
Discussant: Susan R Whyte, Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen

Ageless Aging or Meaningful Decline?: A Critical Anthropology of “Successful Aging”– Sarah E Lamb (Brandeis)

A Model of “Success”: Aging in a Catholic Convent– Anna I. Corwin (University of California, Los Angeles – Dept of Anthropology)

Stratification and Heterogeneity of Successful Aging Constructs in Thailand and USA– Mark R Luborsky (Wayne State University) Chulanee Thianthai (Chulalongkorn University)

Education, English, and Embroidery: The Sociality of Aging in Poland– Jessica C Robbins-Ruszkowski (Wayne State University)

Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot: Friendship in the Face of Dementia– Janelle S Taylor (University Washington)

Deja vu? Nope, this was the panel that was so good, it was worth doing twice (see the guides to the GSA). Obviously something worth paying attention to is in the works here. This time Janelle Taylor, who has been doing more and more work in medical anthropology and dementia joins Sarah Lamb and the others.

11-12:45PM, Wilson A

SEEKING HEALTH AND LIFE IN CONDITIONS OF ADVERSITY – TWO

Chair: Cheryl Mattingly, University of Southern California
Organizer: Bjarke Oxlund, University of Copenhagen and Lotte Meinert, Aarhus University
Discussants: Julie Livingston, Rutgers University and Ayo Wahlberg, University of Copenhagen

The organizer, Bjarke Oxlund is a member of the Anthropology & Aging editorial advisory board and a longtime AAGE member. Julie Livingston was part of the interlocutor session at a previous AAA. The panel (along with part ONE) is packed with big names who take generations seriously.

11-11:30 AM Jackson

AGING, ELDERS, AND END-OF-LIFE CARE

From Cure to Care: Becoming Old and Diabetic in Tanzania– Peter M Van Eeuwijk, University of Basel

Combating Ageism in the Tanzanian Health System: From Painful Exclusion to Social Participation-Brigit Obrist van Eeuwijk, University of Basel

Die Suddenly or Die Knowing Her/His Remaining Lifetime: What Is Imagined As Good Death in Contemporary Japan– Hideaki Matsuoka, Osaka University

The Good Life at the End of Life: the Ideal End-of-Life for South Korean Elders Living in Toronto, Canada– Christine Moon, Brown University

Social and Material Entanglements in Institutional Long-Term Care: The Making and Unmaking of Personhood in People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias– Jayne M Yatczak, Wayne State University

So if you went to the “Successful Aging” panel, stay in the room for this one on end-of-life care! A nice variety of approaches and regions represented here.

2:30- 4:15 PM, Wilson A

“CARE”FUL CONSIDERATION: EXAMINING NOTIONS OF CARE WITHIN AND TOWARD ETHNOGRAPHY

Chair: Chloe Silverman, Drexel University
Organizer: A. Elizabeth DeLuca, University of California Irvine, and Aaron T Seaman, University of Chicago
Discussant: Janelle S Taylor, University Washington

Giving Care?: Exploring the Analytic of Care through an Examination of the “Caregiver” – Aaron T Seaman, University of Chicago

Care, Risk, and Haunted Subjectivities- Matthew Furlong, University of Chicago

Honeybee Health, Uncertain Illnesses, and Medical Care– Chloe Silverman, Drexel University

Affective Labor and the Limits of Care: Reflections on Caretaking, Abuse and Intersubjectivity-Elizabeth DeLuca, University of California Irvine

Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Theorizing Accountability in Care Under Globalization and Neoliberalism– Athena McLean, Central Michigan University/ Andrea P Sankar, Wayne State University

Yes, there is more to say about care!! While Athena, Andrea, and Chloe have been working on issues of care and culture in medical contexts for a while, organizers Elizabeth and Aaron, and Matthew Furlong are graduate students doing some really exciting work. This is bound to be a very stimulating panel.

 

2:30 PM – 4:15 PM, Marriott Ballroom Salon 3- White

GENERAL POSTER SESSION: Body Image and Menopause: The Objective and Subjective Story

Lynn Morrison, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Daniel E. Brown, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Lynnette Leidy Sievert, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Angela Reza, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Nichole Rahberg, University of Hawaii at Manoa

2:30- 4:15 PM, Roosevelt Room 2

THE MANY LIVES OF DEATH: IMAGINING DEATH AND DYING THROUGH SPACE AND TIME

Chairs: Devin Flaherty, University of California, Los Angeles, Emily Anne Lucitt, University of California, Los Angeles – Dept of Anthropology
Organizers: Devin Flaherty, University of California, Los Angeles, Emily Anne Lucitt, University of California, Los Angeles – Dept of Anthropology

Discussant: Cheryl Mattingly, University of Southern California

Imagining and Caregiving:Hospice in Two “American” Cultures– Devin Flaherty, University of California, Los Angeles

Sunday, December 6

10- 11:45 AM, Thurgood Marshall West

AGING AND MIGRATION: ANTHROPOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF CARE AND RESPONSIBILITY

Chair: Bjarke Oxlund, University of Copenhagen
Organizers: Monika Palmberger, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Azra Hromadzic, Syracuse University
Discussant: Michele R Gamburd, Portland State University

Migrants of Privilege: American Retirees and the Imaginaries of Ecuadorian Care Work– Ann Miles, Western Michigan University

Late Life Choices: Feelings of Ambivalence Among Aging Labour Immigrants– Monika Palmberger, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity

“Where Were They until Now?” Aging, Care and Abandonment in a Bosnian Town- Azra Hromadzic, Syracuse University

Where Home Is Not the Same: Emerging Notions of Reciprocity, Dependency, and Concepts of Person/Self in Tuareg Intergenerational Experiences of Migration- Susan J Rasmussen, University of Houston

Who Cares? Ageing, Transnational Care Arrangements and the Question of Morality- Yvon Van Der Pijl, Utrecht University

“I Do Not Expect to Become frail” – Transnational Aging Experiences from a Civil Servants Milieu of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania– Andrea Patricia Grolimund, University of Basel

Of the four AAGE heavy panels (Producing Compassion; Successful Aging; Aging, Elders and End-of-Life; and this one), aging and migration has the most explicit focus on the aging experience in the developing and impoverished world. This is not “retirement migration,” it is concerned, in the words of the abstract, with “transnational responsibility; competing ideas of personhood; morality and “good aging;” social security; and economies of care as they materialize in these diverse yet converging contexts of aging, migration and care.”

12- 1:45 PM, Thurgood Marshall South

BIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON LIFE HISTORY STRATEGIES AND STAGES

12:45 PM

Senescence, Aging, and Allostatic Load in Sakiyama, Japan– Rachael Elizabeth Leahy, The Ohio State University; Douglas E. Crews, The Ohio State University; Yoshiaki Sone, Mimasaka University; Aiko Iwamoto, Osaka City University; Yosuke Kusano, Nagasaki Wesleyan University; Takahiro Maeda, Nagasaki University; Kiyoshi Aoyagi, Nagasaki University

Last, but not least, a bio-cultural life course perspective!

See you in DC!

JD

(if we missed your panel, leave us a comment below!)