You will have to write a 7-page ethnographic essay for this course. You can pick any of
the weekly topics listed on the syllabus and research them in depth, including research at
the library and on the Internet (going beyond class readings); observation or sometimes
participant observation of an institution, phenomenon, event or subculture you chose to
study; and informal interviewing of people who can share with you some important
information on your research topic. All of your research activities, including interviews,
can be done remotely.
Some of the institutions you might want to research are: adult day care centers; nursing
homes; active lifestyle communities for the aging; hospitals and community health
centers; hospice facilities; offices or homes of the local healers, etc. Some of the
phenomena you might consider for your project are the presentation of older women’s
and men’s health and body image on TV, in the movies, in street advertisement, in
magazines and newspapers. Some of the events to look at are rites of passage
(anniversaries, retirement procedures, death and burial preparations and medical care of
the dying); the medical treatment of elderly people and the narratives they and their
caregivers have to tell; the relocation of the elderly into a community for the older people
or into a nursing home. Some of the subcultures that might be of interest to you include
community support groups for the elderly; chronically ill people’s communities centered
around a particular illness; interest groups and classes for the elderly organized at local
library branches and community centers. You could also observe and theorize the
construction and framing of aging at your own workplace, among your relatives and
friends, as well as in online communities and social networks on the Web.
Your task is to research and report how the ideas and beliefs about aging are constructed,
reproduced and consumed within your chosen setting. Pay close attention to language and
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metaphors as well as to the details of visual representation (style, color, composition,
cultural references). Try to understand how ideas and practices of aging are being
constructed and reproduced. How do the participants interpret these patterns? What kind
of meanings do they ascribe to their behaviors? What kind of roles do they play in the
process, what kind of identities do they acquire and stick to, what kind of narratives do
they create? Why is following these patterns and narratives considered to be important?
What social needs do they serve?
You will find more instructions on designing project proposals and writing your essays in
the Assignments section on Blackboard.
Please submit your essays by email at professor.*******************
by April 21st, 11.59pm.
If you fail to surround the text written by another author by quotation marks (by so
doing, distinguishing it from your own text) and to state in parentheses right after
the quotation where the passage has been taken from (the name of the author, the
year of publication and the page number), your actions will be considered
plagiarism with all due consequences (please see Plagiarism Policy section of the
syllabus).
Plagiarism Policy:
Plagiarism in any form, including unattributed use of the Internet resources, will result in
automatic failure of the course and a report to college authorities.
Chat GPT and other AI writing tools are not permitted for any stage or phase of work in
this class. If you use these tools, your actions would be considered academically
dishonest and a violation of CUNY Academic Integrity Policy.
