GERONTOLOGY
THE BASICS
Human aging is a complex, multifaceted experience that unfolds over an entire lifetime. While human aging is universal, it is also wildly variable, shaped by individual, social, cultural, political, geographic and historical contexts. Gerontology: The Basics explores the field of research, education and practice which takes on the complex and multifaceted questions, issues and problems of adult aging and old age.
Intended for anyone interested in understanding the origins of Gerontology and its unique purview, we invite the reader to join us in a critical examination of what we think we know about becoming and being old and, perhaps, be inspired to engage more deeply in their own travels through the life-course.
Jennifer R. Sasser, Ph.D. is an Educational Gerontologist, transdisciplinary scholar, and community activist. Jenny served as Chair of the Department of Human Sciences and Founding Director of Gerontology at Marylhurst University, in Portland, Oregon, from 1999 to 2015. In 2016, Jenny joined the part-time faculty in the Gerontology program at Portland Community College.
Harry R. Moody, Ph.D. is retired Vice President of Academic Affairs for AARP. DC. He is currently Visiting Professor at Tohoku University in Japan, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Fielding Graduate University. He previously served as Executive Director of the Brookdale Centre on Aging at Hunter College and Chairman of the Board of Elderhostel (now Road Scholar).
THE BASICS
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/The-Basics/book-series/B
ACTING (SECOND EDITION)
BELLA MERLIN
ANIMAL ETHICS
TONY MILLIGAN
ANTHROPOLOGY OF RELIGION
JAMES S. BIELO
ARCHAEOLOGY (SECOND EDITION)
CLIVE GAMBLE
THE BIBLE AND LITERATURE
NORMAN W. JONES
BRITISH POLITICS
BILL JONES
CAPITALISM
DAVID COATES
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
MURRAY RAE
DISCOURSE
ANGELA GODDARD AND NEIL CAREY
FINANCE (THIRD EDITION)
ERIK BANKS
FOLKLORE
SIMON J. BRONNER
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY
SANDIE TAYLOR
JAPAN
CHRISTOPHER P. HOOD
LANGUAGE (SECOND EDITION)
R.L. TRASK
MEN AND MASCULINITY
NIGEL EDLEY
MODERNISM
LAURA WINKIEL
NARRATIVE
BRONWEN THOMAS
POETRY (THIRD EDITION)
JEFFREY WAINWRIGHT
THE QURAN (SECOND EDITION)
MASSIMO CAMPANINI
RESEARCH METHODS
NIGEL EDLEY
SEMIOTICS
DANIEL CHANDLER
SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS AND DISABILITY
(SECOND EDITION)
JANICE WEARMOUTH
SPORT MANAGEMENT
ROBERT WILSON AND
MARK PIEKARZ
SPORTS COACHING
LAURA PURDY
TRANSLATION
JULIANE HOUSE
First published 2018
by Routledge
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2018 Jennifer R. Sasser and Harry R. Moody
The right of Jennifer R. Sasser and Harry R. Moody to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-1-138-77581-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-77582-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-11323-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
To my daughter Isobel M. Coen as you embark upon adulthood in these wild times. J.R.S.
To Analie Nur, our granddaughter, whose longevity could well reach into the 22nd century. H.R.M.
CONTENTS
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Credit: By Health and Human Services Department, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging: p.24[1] (Alzheimers Disease: Unraveling the Mystery) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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Credit: Photograph taken by author, Jennifer R. Sasser
Thank you to the many persons of all ages and life-course stages who have inspired my curiosity about being a human being traveling through the life-course. J.R.S.
My acknowledgment goes out to two people, now deceased, who taught me about aging: Prof. Rose Dobrof, founding Director of the Brookdale Center on Aging at Hunter College, and Laurence Morris, who lived with our family until age 97. H.R.M.
Jennifer (Jenny) R. Sasser, Ph.D. is an Educational Gerontologist, transdisciplinary scholar, and community activist. Jenny has been working in the field of Gerontology for more than half her life, beginning as a nursing assistant and senior citizen advocate before focusing on scholarly inquiry and education. As an undergraduate she attended Willamette University, in Salem, Oregon, graduating Cum Laude in Psychology and Music; her interdisciplinary graduate studies at University of Oregon and Oregon State University focused on the Human Sciences, with specialization areas in adult development and aging, womens studies, and critical social theory and alternative research methodologies. Jennys dissertation became part of a book published by Routledge in 1996 and co-authored with Dr. Janet Lee Blood Stories: Menarche and the Politics of the Female Body in Contemporary US Society.
For the past twenty years, she has focused her inquiry in the areas of creativity in later life; aging and embodiment; transdisciplinary curriculum design; Critical Gerontological Theory; transformational adult learning practices; and cross-generational collaborative inquiry. Jenny served as Chair of the Department of Human Sciences and Founding Director of Gerontology at Marylhurst University, in Portland, Oregon, from 1999 to 2015.
In 2016, Jenny joined the part-time faculty in the Gerontology program at Portland Community College. Her other commitments include co-authoring Aging: Concepts and Controversies (with Harry R. Moody); convening the Gero-Punk Project; serving as a conversation facilitator for Oregon Humanities; and offering consulting, workshops and presentations.
Harry R. Moody, Ph.D. is retired Vice President of Academic Affairs for AARP. DC. He is currently Visiting Professor at Tohoku University in Japan, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Fielding Graduate University. He previously served as Executive Director of the Brookdale Center on Aging at Hunter College and Chairman of the Board of Elderhostel (now Road Scholar).
