New Spring ’25 Graduate Seminar on The Aging Experience: Theoretical Perspectives & Contemporary Issues (SSW HB 756)
As registration for Spring 2025 semester classes approaches, CISS is sharing news about new courses that may be of interest to social science students. Do you have a class you’d like to announce? Please send information to ciss@bu.edu and we’ll feature it on our website and a future Digest!
In Spring ’25 graduate students (across BU) who have an interest in aging and health are encouraged to enroll in: The Aging Experience: Theoretical Perspectives & Contemporary Issues (SSW HB 756), taught by Judith Gonyea, a CISS steering committee member and Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the School of Social Work (SSW). The seminar will meet Thursdays, from 1:30 pm to 3:15 pm.
The seminar’s objective is to increase our understanding of the unequal experiences of aging in the U.S. and globally based on persons’ positionality (or social identities) (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientations, disability). Together, drawing on perspectives from sociology, psychology, social work, public health, and demography we will probe: How do we (society) think about aging? What does it mean when we talk about promoting “healthy aging” or “age-friendly communities”? and How are our views of older adults –and the experiences of current and future cohorts of older adults—shaped by the U.S. current social, economic, and political climates? Example session themes (with members’ input) are ageism and social exclusion; shifting the focus away from “poverty” to “economic self-sufficiency” in old age; changing family structures and dynamics and care for older members, mental health challenges and substance abuse in later life; the disability rights movement, climate change, environmental justice, and older persons.
As a seminar, this is a largely discussion-based class in which we process readings, videos, and presentations (by members or guests).