Demographic realities of rapid increase of aging population and decreasing birthrate, rising medical and care-costs, socio-economic instability and needs, and overburdened governmental welfare structures and healthcare systems present exorbitant challenges shared by many societies throughout the world. The "aged" and the process of "aging" in comparison to youth are commonly seen with negative implications and the advanced stage of one's life trajectory is synonymous with growing frailty, illness, disease, loss in physical and mental capacity, social and economic limits and immobility, loneliness and isolation, and being a burden to family and society. Amidst the macro-level discussions on how best to meet the challenges and needs of the increasing aging population, individuals in microcosms narrate diverse encounters with aging that defy the stereotypical images of "elderly" and "seniors." Instead, they highlight subjective autonomy and agency in self, body, sexuality, representations, as well as physical, mental, and psychological maintenance and well-being in creative and innovative ways of dealing with the transitional process of body, mind, and spirit.

 

Initiating a macro conversation of global aging within an international realm and then specifying the focus to a regional level situated in Japan, a super-aging society where more than one in four persons are 65 or over, the hidden but very present counter-hegemonic narratives offer crucial case studies that draw attention to the changing discourse of aging through accentuating the realities of growing diverse communities and life-experiences. How does a conservative, rigidly hierarchical patriarchal society, often perceived by self and others as "homogeneous," encounter and accommodate the undeniably increasing visible presence of diversity that is challenging the dominant preconceived notions of nation, ethnie, citizenship, language, traditionally categorized hierarchies of age and social roles, work and retirement, strict family structure, institutions, and infrastructures of aging and care? 

 

The two-day international symposium seeks papers that explore and elucidate diverse selves and experiences, productive innovative communities and spaces, evolving means of care, and transitions and transformation of passive to active autonomous "aging." It aims to specifically call attention to the microcosms of peripheries, fringes, and alterities. Day One (Oct. 5) will reflect upon general theoretical discussions from various international regions. Day Two (Oct. 6) will focus specifically on Japan.