Subject Area: Sociology and Anthropology
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: Asian Studies

How do individuals experience the process of growing older? Considering a range of different societies, this course examines how the biological language of ageing relates to the cultural language of maturation, youth, adulthood, and old age. Through an investigation of sociological and anthropological theories of the life-course, it examines the social and political processes whereby personhood is acquired and challenged, and with which biographical lives are shaped. Sub-topics are likely to include: childhood and youth; birth and death; embodiment and technology; old age and ageing; temporality and intergenerationality; gender and sexuality.