Posts

Speculative Fiction and the Future of Older Age

In On the Writing of Speculative Fiction (1947), Robert A. Heinlein describes the genre as: ‘[N]arratives concerned not so much with science or technology as with human actions in response to a new situation created by science or technology, speculative fiction highlights a human rather than technological problem’. Authors have used this malleable genre (which encompasses elements of fantasy, science fiction, utopia/dystopia, horror … Continue reading Speculative Fiction and the Future of Older Age

On putting the ‘act’ into active participant

Back in April Val wrote about using forum theatre as a method to reimagine the future in older age. Forum theatre, she noted, allows performers and audience members to ‘actively participate’ in order to encourage critical reflection and rehearse strategies of resistance to challenge oppression and marginalisation. In this post I reflect on how I … Continue reading On putting the ‘act’ into active participant

What do we mean by ‘self-identified’ older adult

In our previous blog post, we announced that we’re recruiting ‘self-identified’ older people to take part in an online theatre workshop. The term ‘self-identified’ seems to have ruffled some feathers, and so this is a response in good faith which hopefully answers some questions.  Researchers of older age and later life have always had to … Continue reading What do we mean by ‘self-identified’ older adult

The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada

All of our intergenerational online reading groups chose to read Yoko Tawada’s The Last Children of Tokyo (first published in Japan in 2014 and in the UK in 2018). This post will consider the groups’ reactions to the book, the vision of the future presented and their thoughts on intergenerational relationships and longevity.  In the Guardian John Self describes The … Continue reading The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada