Teaching cross-cultural aging: using literary portrayals of elders from Chile and the United States.
Literary texts are cultural artifacts revealing a society's values and attitudes; reading literature about elders and old age can change readers' ageist attitudes. Beginning with these assumptions, I discuss ways of teaching cross-cultural aging in undergraduate literature courses, using Chilean texts paired with American texts. Students learn how old age is socially constructed and how writers can either reinforce or challenge negative societal stereotypes of elders. Chilean texts reveal Chileans' respect and affection by associating elders with nature and ascribing to them otherworldly wisdom. American texts respectfully depict elders connected to nature, but not as transcending the earthly.
Waxman
Barbara
B
Department of English, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Morton Hall 134, 601 South College Rd, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA. waxmanb@uncw.edu
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D002677:Chile; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005008:Ethnopsychology / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations / Q000208:ethnology*; D008091:Literature; D011361:Professional Competence; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D014481:United States