AgeNet is pleased to invite you to our next webinar, which will take place on 23 February at 15:30 (CET). Dr Matthew Lariviere will lead an interactive workshop on Collaborative storytelling and ageing futures, exploring alternative ways of imagining ageing and later life.
Participation is free, but registration is required. Please register here.
Interest in futures thinking is growing across the social sciences, government agencies, and industry. Yet, older adults and gerontologists have often been overlooked or have not actively engaged with this area in their research, policy development, or practice. This oversight is significant, as policymakers, technology designers, and corporate entities are actively shaping specific visions of ageing and what it means to “age well”.
Ageing, however, is a deeply personal and emotional journey, rooted in individuals’ stories, as well as the cultural and communal contexts people inhabit.
Rather than conforming to externally imposed ideals of ageing “successfully” or “healthily,” individuals should be empowered to define their own sense of purpose and meaning as they approach and experience later life. Anthropology—particularly its creative and visual fields of inquiry—is uniquely positioned to explore alternative perspectives on ageing.
This interactive workshop introduces one approach to collaborative storytelling using an online version of The Thing from the Future. Participants will work collaboratively in small groups to imagine how people might adapt to societal transformations in near or distant future scenarios of their own creation. Facilitated reflection will explore the dystopic and utopic characteristics of these stories and what they reveal about our aspirations for ageing — and how we might age otherwise.
