title: Age mimicry. A perspective on the young-old.
abstract: This essay proposes drawing on Homi K. Bhabha's concept of colonial mimicry to theorize the young-old's imitation of midlife. Bhabha states: "colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of a difference that is almost the same, but not quite". On an abstract level, similarities can be found in what is expected of the young-old: the young-old are to orient themselves towards middle-age norms, yet only to a certain degree and only when respecting the allegedly natural differences between the ages of life. Thus, the young-old are considered to be almost the same as the middle-aged, but 'not quite'; with this slight deviation the young-old in fact embody a distorted picture of the latter that causes irritation: through age mimicry midlife norms are not only affirmed but questioned. The paper focuses on the ambivalence in this position of the young-old, exploring examples from different contexts: styling, cosmetic surgery, and the world of work.
authors.affiliation: Institute of German Studies, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: Thomas.Kuepper@phil.uni-duesseldorf.de.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Küpper
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D018595:Colonialism; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Active aging; Age mimicry; Postcolonial theory; Sameness/difference; Third age; Young-old