ISSUE 2: the Summer School Edition November 2015
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ISSN 2055-737X (Online) ISSUE 2: The Summer School Edition November 2015 1 Postgraduate Journal of Women, Ageing and Media (PGWAM), November 2015, Issue 2 EDITORS: Josephine Dolan, University of the West of England Abigail Gardner, University of Gloucestershire Hannah Grist, University of Gloucestershire Ros Jennings, University of Gloucestershire EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Amelia DeFalco, University of Toronto Joanne Garde-Hansen, University of Warwick Eva Krainitzki, University of Gloucestershire Kate Latham, University of Gloucestershire Karin Lövgren, Umeå University Ulla Kriebernegg, Karl-Franzens-University Graz Estella Tincknell, University of the West of England Sherryl Wilson, University of the West of England WEB EDITOR: Hannah Grist, University of Gloucestershire COPY-EDITOR: Hannah Grist, University of Gloucestershire COVER DESIGN: Kwamena Beecham The Postgraduate Journal of Women, Ageing and Media (ISSN: 2055-7361) is a rigorous, peer- reviewed journal which welcomes submissions from postgraduate students and early career researchers working in the fields of ageing studies, media studies, cultural gerontology, and other related disciplines. Run by postgraduates with support from more experienced academics, the journal aims to make ‘thinking with age’ a key lens from which to approach research focussed on women, ageing and the media (film, television, screen media, popular music, advertising radio and the press). For inquiries, requests, and changes, please visit: http://wamuog.co.uk/ or Email: [email protected] © 2015 by Postgraduate Journal of Women, Ageing and Media. All Rights Reserved. 2 Contents Editorial – Welcome to Issue 2: The Summer School Edition ...................................... 4 Part One – Summer School 2014 .............................................................................. 5 Proceedings of the Summer School 2014 .................................................................. 7 Abstracts ................................................................................................................. 7 Summer School 2014 - Selected Presentations ....................................................... 15 Women with Attitude: Photographic Project (Grace Hall) ..................................... 15 Carnival and Dementia: Is it Heresy? (Kate Latham) ........................................... 26 Are You Lonesome Tonight? Exploring Experiences of Loneliness in Older Age through and with Pop Song Lyrics (Maxine Horne) .............................................. 34 Keep Dancing! Older Age and Cultural Activity – WAM Research Project ............... 41 Reflections on WAM Keep Dancing Event ............................................................... 44 Part 2 – Summer School 2015 ................................................................................. 65 Proceedings of the Summer School 2015 ................................................................ 67 Abstracts ............................................................................................................... 68 Summer School 2015 – Selected Presentations ...................................................... 79 The Other Woman: Ageing Femininities in the Contemprary Cinematic Fairy Tale (Katherine Newstead) ......................................................................................... 79 The Ageing Experince Shaping the Portrayal of Place in Lorna Crozier’s Poetry (Nuria Mina-Riera) ............................................................................................... 84 Still ‘Got the Feelin’’: Exploring Post-Youth’s Enjoyment of Music from their Recent Past (Simone Driessen) ...................................................................................... 90 The Influence of Space on Identity Construction as Representated in Orange is the New Black (Carina Steger) .................................................................................. 99 Sexually Active Ageing Women: Liberated “Docile Bodies”? (Ieva Stončikaitė) 104 Les Ondistes du Québec: Une Histoire des Ondes Martenot Par Ses Interprètes (David Madden) ................................................................................................. 112 Phenomenal Women: a Poetic View of the Social Construction of the Older Widow in Irish Society (Caroline Coyle) ........................................................................ 120 Outcomes of WAM Summer School 2015 .............................................................. 124 3 Editorial – Welcome to Issue 2: The Summer School Edition Ab Gardner, Hannah Grist & Ros Jennings Welcome to Issue 2 of the Postgraduate Journal of Women, Ageing and Media (PGWAM). The focus of this edition is on the International Summer School held annually at the Park Campus at the University of Gloucestershire. The emphasis of this edition of PGWAM on the Summer School reflects the Centre for Women, Ageing and Media’s (WAM) desire to highlight the important and meaningful work that is showcased annually at this unique conference. WAM regards the Summer School as our show piece, and feedback suggests that the special ethos and design of the conference is an exemplary form of research training. The WAM Summer School plays an important role in training the next generation of scholars in ageing studies by offering an intensive intergenerational learning experience. In addition to presenting their research, participants engage in a research workshop that contributes to developing methods and approaches to the field of study. Summer School numbers are kept deliberately small and there are no parallel sessions so that active peer learning opportunities are maximized. The WAM Summer School is as much a process as an event that brings together emerging and world leading scholars to think through current and developing issues in relation to women, ageing and popular media forms. This edition first offers the reader the proceedings of the Summer School 2014, then presents a number of selected papers delivered that year. Next, we offer the reader an exploration of WAM’s ongoing research project ‘Keep Dancing!’ The proceedings of Summer School 2015 are then presented, followed by a number of selected papers delivered this year. This edition of PGWAM closes with a discussion of the Outcomes of the Summer School. 4 Part One – Summer School 2014 (Summer School 2014 Participants) The 2014 International Women, Ageing and Media (WAM) Research Summer School (at the University of Gloucestershire) took place in Cheltenham (UK) on 17th, 18th and 19th June 2014 and brought together international postgraduate researchers across disciplines whose research engages with women, ageing and issues of identity, representation, cultural activity, creativity, lived experience and popular cultural forms (e.g. popular music, film, television, literature, dance, fashion and digital social media). The fourth Annual WAM International Summer School in 2014 was the first to be offered as an integral part of WAM’s collaboration as a partner in the ACT project. The ACT/WAM collaboration was reinforced through the funded participation of the keynote speaker Line Grenier (University of Montreal, Canada), Elena Fronk (University of Maastricht, NL), Christina Haralanova (Concordia University, Canada), and Sabine Turker (CIAS, University of Graz, Austria). 5 All participants took part in a methods project during their attendance titled ‘Keep Dancing’ which is explored in some detail in the remainder of this Issue of the Postgraduate Journal of Women, Ageing and Media. This year the Summer School included a public symposium funded by the University of the West of England: Older Age and Cultural Activity that took place on the afternoon of the 17th June. This featured Dr Trish Winter (University of Sunderland, UK) who presented work from her AHRC funded project: A Somatic Ethnography of Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group to a mixed audience of Summer School participants, research staff, service providers for older people, older people’s user groups and anyone interested in the importance of cultural activity in later life. The content of the symposium fed directly into the methods workshops during the following two days of Summer School. 6 Proceedings of the Summer School 2014 Opening Keynote Line Grenier (University of Montreal, Canada) Music-ing and ‘ageing together’: Notes from a collaborative ethnography of Étoile des aînés Étoile des aînés is a ‘music talent’ contest for people aged 65 and over, organized in Québec by one of the most important investors in the seniors housing market in North America, Chartwell-Reit. Since its creation five years ago, Étoile des aînés has attracted over 1,200 participants and thousands of adults in their later life as audience members and volunteers. Since 2012, the contest is the site of a pilot project I have been conducting with a colleague and a research assistant, aimed at investigating intersections of ageing and popular music in the context a global demographic shift to an ‘ageing society’ and governmental discourses and policies around ‘active ageing.’ In this keynote presentation I will critically reflect on the methodological practices, assumptions and ethical concerns that shape our ways of thinking with age through Étoile des aînés. By means of a series of anecdotes (Morris, 2006), I will consider the methodological effectivity of the key concepts that we put to work: what do concepts of music-ing (Small, 1998) and ageing together (Katz, 2009) do (Bal, 2002), how