November 5 (M), November 7 (W), November 9 (F)

Read: Danely, Aging and Loss: Mourning and Maturity in Contemporary Japan, Introduction, chapters 2, 5, 6, 7

1. How do ideas about aging relate to models of personhood?

2. What roles do ritual and narrative play in aging?

3. What does loss mean for the people profiled in the book?

4. What are relationships like between the living and the dead or spirits? How do they shift as one ages?

5. What are obasuteyama stories? Why are they significant?

6. What, according to Danely, is the economy of care surrounding aging in Japan? How does it compare to the economy of care related to child-rearing in China?

7. How do the "son kills mother" stories discussed by Danely compare to the "good student kills mother" story described by Kuan? What tensions and anxieties about family and economics do they reveal?

 

Topic for RESPONSE PAPER #7 (2-3 pages, double-spaced, due on November 9 by email before class to Professor Leshkowich.) Please remember to submit your paper as a Microsoft Word document named lastname7.docx.

Representations of Aging
For this assignment, please choose one of the topics below:

1. Letter to the editor: Similar to last week's topic, pretend that you are Jason Danely and that you are writing a "letter to the editor" of a media source that has recently published an article about aging in Japan. First, find a newspaper or reliable electronic media account from the past three years that discusses some aspect of aging, elder care, social welfare related to seniors, etc. Next, determine how Jason Danely might respond to the article. Would he agree with the way that the author of the article depicted or assessed elders, their family members, their communities, or the Japanese government? Are there other parts of the situation that he would be likely to emphasize? Different conclusions that he would draw? And why might those be significant? (Although you will be writing "in character" as Danely, be sure that your discussion allows you to highlight what you personally see as the strengths or weaknesses of Danely's book.)

2. Narratives of aging: Danely writes, "Narratives represent subjectivities as interpersonal, intersubjective processes that strive to shape meanings of personal significance within a temporal framework of possible pasts, presents, and futures. This process takes time and practice, safety and support, and changes over the life course as the significance of relationships, places, and memories are reevaluated" (18). Pick one person described in the book and consider one or more specific moments in which narratives play a role in that person's experience of aging and of self. What do those narratives suggest about individual, social, economic, or political dimensions of aging in Japan? Based on your discussion, what do you see as the strengths, weaknesses, and/or significance of Danely's focus on narratives?