Contesting Aging & Loss

"Contesting Aging and Loss is a superb example of critical gerontology. This beautifully written, though disturbing, narrative reveals the dark side of our enlightened views of healthy and successful aging. A must-read for all who believe they are acting in the best interests of older adults.

"Whether it be in academic research, the mass media, or corporate advertising, aging is too often presented with a profound overemphasis on real and imagined losses that, in turn, can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Contesting Aging and Loss provides a most welcome non-pharmacological antidote, and redresses the balance beautifully."

"Many books are skimmed once and then set aside. This one is to be devoured over and over again. Contesting Aging and Loss Provides a richness of thought for the experienced policy maker, academic, and the up-and-coming student concerned with the challenging concepts of loss and aging, and their meanings to us personally, and to the communities in which we live."

"This volume invites readers to re-magine the losses of aging by listening to the views of elders themselves...Researchers, students of aging, and policy makers should find this work most enlightening."

Disease and death are a part of life, but so too is being well. The lively voices found in this book are not shy about stating the ways in which the widely held notion that they are in decline has been a far larger problem than many other features of their lives. For students, scholars, and policy makers, the message is to attend to these voices, and to design and build better programs that address the social determinants of healthy aging and social inclusion throughout the life course.

Janice E. Graham is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Director of the Qualitative Research Commons & Studio (QuRCS) in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Peter H. Stephenson is a Michael Smith Foundation Research Associate at the Centre on Aging, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, British Columbia.