CFP: Narratives of Life: Aging and Identity. Ed. Heike Hartung,
Roberta Maierhofer

The prospect of increasing longevity has turned ageing and old age into
a topic of concern in Western societies. The discourse of age and the
proliferation of narrative in contemporary media culture both transgress
disciplinary boundaries. Addressing the 'narratives of life' from
different disciplinary angles this volume aims to explore the scope of a
narrative gerontology. Ageing and the stories that are told about it or
from within are transnational and transcultural phenomena. While ageing
is thus a universal process, attention is also drawn to the categories
of difference that it evokes: Historical, social and cultural
differences as well as gender differences.

Representations of age in different modes of story telling, history and
life writing will be among the central issues of the volume. Different
cultural attitudes on old age and ageing as well as narrative
constructions of age throughout history will be addressed. The editors
are looking for papers that focus on a range of questions, including
(but not limited to) the following: What meanings are attached to age
and ageing in the narrative process? In what ways do medical and
biological concepts of age merge with those applied to the individual
life course? How do physiological and cultural constructions of age
interact in life narratives? How does ageing shape identity
constructions? How much does age have in common with other identity
categories and how does it differ?

Please send short abstracts of 300-500 words by May 31, 2007. The final
papers will be due July 31, 2007. The length of manuscripts should be
approximately 7000 words. For formal requirements, please follow the
recent MLA Manual of Style.

Send abstracts and completed articles to Roberta Maierhofer via e-mail
or surface mail:

roberta.maierhofer_at_uni-graz.at

=20

Roberta Maierhofer
Department of American Studies
University of Graz
Attemsgasse 25
A-8010 Graz / Austria
Europe

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Received on Sun Feb 11 2007 - 15:22:51 EST