These study days are organized as part of the scientific activities of the APaSuN network. They will be held in Aix-en-Provence, at the Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'Homme, on October 17 and 18, 2024.
Their aim is to shed new light on representations of ageing across ages and territories, between North and South, by focusing on the ways in which ageing is (in)visible. To understand social and cultural representations of aging, it is important to pay attention to how societies and their institutions make aging visible, or not, and in what ways, but also to understand how individuals themselves become aware of and experience their advancing age and its effects. Analyzing these ways in which aging is (in)visible informs the social, political, familial and cultural treatment of aging and its repercussions on all ages. From this point of view, it is important to ask how the different ages of life think about aging, and whether or not they project themselves into this period of existence. From the care and support of aging in the private and public spheres, to the denial of age and the ensuing awareness and practices to tame, distance or even erase it, the papers presented at this conference will explore the scope of social, political and individual variations in representations of aging in the North and South. They will also provide an opportunity to present work based on a wide range of data (interviews, observations, statistical data, as well as documentaries, photos, posters, works of art, digital media and other archives).

Thursday, October 17, 2024

8am: Welcome coffee / 8:30am: Introduction

8.45am-10am: Social, media and artistic expressions of aging (Chair:)
Hélène Blasquiet: Semaine bleue posters: a mirror of social perceptions of old age
Justine Rochot: Beyond the dama? Visibility regimes for older women in China, from public dances to senior influencers
Céline Ventura Teixeira: Goya's Caprices or the staging of a transgressive old age

10:15-11:30: Making aging in(visible) in professional worlds (Chair: Constance Perrin-Joly)
Amélie Pierre and Nathalie Burnay: Possibilities, paths and time: when disability dissolves age
Eléonore Robinson: Aging in the IT sector: a resolutely intersectional approach
Robert Ngueutsa: Subjective age at work in developing countries

11:45 - 13:00: Making aging in(visible). Weight and effects of institutional contexts (Chair: Nathalie Burnay)
Shani Galand: Sur le chemin de la reconnaissance: les Centres sociaux et socioculturels face aux logiques institutionnelles de la vieillesse (On the road to recognition: social and sociocultural centers confronted with the institutional logic of old age)
Amina Nouh, Amina Saïd Chiré, Blandine Destremau et al, Dire ou ne pas dire le vieillissement à Djibouti : jeux d'échelle et angles morts (In French only)
Cornelia Hummel: Ce vieillissement que je ne saurais voir : tensions et négociations autour de transformations de la structure des âges à l'échelle micro

13h-14h15 Lunch break

2.15pm-4.30pm: Awareness and experience of aging beyond one's years. Experiences and practices (Chair: )
Veronika Kushtanina: Feeling old from the age of 30: clues and experiences
George Rouamba: Growing old means taking care of yourself. Aesthetization practices of people over 60 in the city of Ouagadougou
Lydie Bichet - Narratives of confinement during covid at high school and in Ehpad. Regards croisés sur les âges
Aline Chamahian: Conscientizing and taming old age. The role of knowledge at school and university
Maïmouna Sanou: Fear of growing too old. Practices and representations of the elderly and those close to them

4:30 pm - 5 pm: Break

5pm-7.30pm: Screening - discussion: Vivre, c'est vieillir (Living is growing old) with Blandine Delcroix, director / Moderated and introduced by Aline Chamahian

Friday, October 18, 2024

8.15am: Welcome coffee

8h45-10h: Aging and migratory trajectories. Visibility, in-between, absence (Moderated by Rémi Gallou)
Constance De Gourcy: Aging in absence: the misaligned space-time of family reunification
Muriel Sajoux: Families in difficulty faced with the loss of autonomy of an elderly parent in Morocco and Senegal: towards a gradual visibility of a hitherto ignored social risk?
Jordan Pinel: Health and aging in-between: residential strategies of elderly Moroccan immigrants

Break

10:15-11:30: Aging and migratory trajectories. Visibility, in-betweenness, absence (Moderator: Anne-Françoise Volponi)
Sagal Mohamed Djama, Fatouma Mahamoud: Aging and mobility: a cross-sectional look at the life courses and migrations of retired refugees and dual nationals in the Republic of Djibouti
Marco Alberio: New cultural models of aging. Experiences and motivations of Italian retirees abroad
Fabienne Le Houerou: Former fascist soldiers in Abyssinia in 1999. Growing old in a former colony

Round-table discussion - Crossed perspectives with local players
With contributions from Cépar (to be confirmed), EPE13 (to be confirmed) and Laboratoire PASSIM

Lydie Bichet, post-doctorante, LinCS / PSI, Unviersité de Strasbourg,

Nathalie Burnay, Professeure de sociologie, Transitions, Université de Namur et de Louvain

Aline Chamahian, Maitresse de conférences en sociologie, Mesopolhis, AMU

Constance Perrin-Joly, Directrice du Centre Français des Etudes Ethiopiennes (Addis-Abeba)

Amina Nouh, Enseignante-chercheuse, Université de Djibouti / IRICA,

Veronika Kushtanina, Maitresse de conférences en sociologie, LaSA, Université de Franche-Comté

How to get to the MMSH :

There is no direct bus service from the TGV station or the airport. You must first get to the bus station in the city center, then take a bus or walk to the MMSH.

To get to the bus station in downtown Aix :
- From the airport, take the Aéroport-TGV-Aix center shuttle bus (30 minutes);

- From the Aix-TVG train station, take the TGV-Aix center shuttle (15-20 minutes) in the basement.
 The shuttle drops passengers off at the Gare Routière d'Aix-en-Provence in the city center (not far from La Rotonde, which overlooks the Cours Mirabeau).

How to get to the MMSH
- From downtown Aix-en-Provence: the most direct route is BUS n°8, direction Margueride. Get off at the Picasso bus stop, a 3-minute walk from the MMSH (follow the sign).