There has been a wealth of work recently on the subject of the body across the humanities and social sciences. Most has, however, focussed on younger, implicitly ´sexier´ bodies. Social gerontology has, moreover tended to avoid the subject of the body, in its struggle to assert the social and cultural determinants of ageing, as against the reductionist bio-medical accounts that dominate professional and popular discourses of age. Emphasising the body can seem to demean older people, reducing them to ´failing´ bodies. For these reasons gerontology has kept away from the topic. This means, however, that the body in old age has remained largely untheorised and unexplored.

Although work on the body in old age has begun to emerge, it remains scattered. Researchers and scholars are isolated in their disciplinary groupings. There is no obvious forum for exchange. The aim of this study group is to redress this, and establish a forum that will bring together work across a range of approaches and subject areas. We also invite researchers, practitioners and academics to maybe revisit and explore the embodied dimensions of their work.

The aim of the group is therefore to be a focus for an exchange of ideas and debate. As part of this there will be a number of one-day seminars and workshops which will explore different aspects of ageing and the body. It is hoped that these will provide a basis for publications. The interests of the group are broad and include theory, empirical research and practice in relation to, for example:

• Anti-ageing / age resistance
• Lived bodies in everyday life
• Clothing and embodiment
• Discourses of ageing and ageism
• Well-being and the ageing body
• The masquerade of age
• Policing old bodies: intergenerational conflict and the role of governance
• Queer bodies
• Racialised bodies
• Fluid bodies, leaky bodies
• Gendered bodies
• Bodies in the Third and Fourth Ages
• Researching ageing bodies: methods and methodology
• Exercise and ‘active’ ageing
• Spatial geographies of bodies
• Bodies and institutions
• Death, dying and disposal
• Bodywork
• Emotions

In 2008 the Ageing, Body and Society group will be relaunched and you are warmly invited to the following events, both at the University of Reading:

Researching Ageing Bodies: Methods Workshop
Tuesday 15th April 2008
Qualitative researchers have been invited to discuss how different research methods, including photography, photo-elicitation, participant observation, diaries, narrative and life histories can facilitate understandings and insights into our bodies / embodied selves. The workshop is participatory and exploratory. All participants will have the opportunity to discuss their research and interests.
Attendance at this workshop is free and a baguette lunch / coffee will be provided. The number of participants will be limited to promote discussion.
If you are interested in participating this workshop please contact Dr Wendy Martin at W.P.Martin@reading.ac.uk

Re-launch of the Ageing, Body and Society group
Wednesday 25th June 2008

We are delighted to welcome Professor Stephen Katz, Trent University, Canada, who will deliver the keynote address and Professor Julia Twigg, University of Kent, UK, who will deliver a plenary paper. A call for abstracts will be available from February 2008.

Both events are free to attend and lunch / coffee will be provided. Participants will need to organise and pay for their own travel and accommodation.
For further information, and to join the Ageing, Body and Society group mailing list, please contact:
Dr. Wendy Martin
School of Health and Social Care
University of Reading
Bulmershe Court
Earley, Reading. RG6 1HY.
0118 378 5842
W.P.Martin@reading.ac.uk