Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T01:27:03.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Narratives at work: what can stories of older athletes do?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2011

CASSANDRA PHOENIX  and
MERIDITH GRIFFIN
CASSANDRA PHOENIX*
Affiliation:
European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro, UK.
MERIDITH GRIFFIN
Affiliation:
Sport and Health Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Cassandra Phoenix, European Centre for the Environment and Human Health, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, Knowledge Spa, Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro TR1 3HD, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous research has shown that young adults tend to identify and reinforce negative stereotypes of growing older. They can express both fear and trepidation regarding the bodily changes that occur with advancing age. With this in mind, in this paper we draw upon Frank's (2010) theoretical framework of socio-narratology to examine the work that stories can do. We take as a working example the impact that stories of ageing told by masters athletes might have upon young adults, and specifically their perceptions of (self-)ageing. Three focus groups were carried out with the young adults to examine their perceptions of (self-)ageing prior to and following their viewing of a digital story portraying images and narratives of mature, natural (‘drug-free’) bodybuilders. Our analysis pointed to a number specific capacities that stories of masters athletes might have, namely the potential to re-open young adults sense of narrative foreclosure, the stretching and expanding of existing imagined storylines, and increasing the availability of narrative options. We propose that understanding what stories can do, what they can do best, and the narrative environments that help and hinder this process is essential if our programmes and policies are to produce the results that are wanted.

Keywords

narrativestoriessocio-narratologymasters athletesnatural bodybuildingexerciseyoung adultsvisual methods
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , February 2013 , pp. 243 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams-Price, C. E., Henley, T. B. and Hale, M. 1998. Phenomenology and the meaning of ageing for young and old adults. The International Journal of Psychosocial Gerontology, 47, 4, 263–77.Google Scholar
Baker, J., Horton, S. and Weir, P. (eds) 2010. The Masters Athlete: Understanding the Role of Sport and Exercise in Optimizing Aging. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Barbour, R. 2007. Doing Focus Groups. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, K. M. and Vidal-Hall, S. 2000. Narratives of death: a qualitative study of widowhood in later life. Ageing & Society, 20, 4, 413–28.Google Scholar
Biggs, S. 2001. Toward critical narrativity: stories of aging in contemporary social policy. Journal of Aging Studies, 15, 4, 303–16.Google Scholar
Biggs, S., Bernard, M., Kingston, P. and Nettleton, H. 2000. Lifestyles of belief: narrative and culture in a retirement community. Ageing & Society, 20, 6, 649–72.Google Scholar
Bruner, J. 1994. The ‘remembered’ self. In Neisser, U. and Fivush, R. (eds), The Remembering Self: Construction and Accuracy in the Self Narrative. Cambridge University Press, New York, 41–54.Google Scholar
Bytheway, B. 2009. Writing about age, birthdays and the passage of time. Ageing & Society, 29, 6, 883–901.Google Scholar
Caissie, L. 2011. The raging grannies: narrative construction of gender and aging. In Kenyon, G., Bohlmeijer, E. and Randall, W. L. (eds), Storying Later Life: Issues, Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative Gerontology. Oxford University Press, New York, 126–42.Google Scholar
Cardona, B. 2008. ‘Healthy ageing’ policies and anti-ageing ideologies and practices: on the exercise of responsibility. Medical Health Care and Philosophy, 11, 4, 475–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chenail, R. 2010. Getting specific about qualitative research generalizability. Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research, 5, 1, 1–11.Google Scholar
Conway, S. and Hockey, J. 1998. Resisting the ‘mask’ of old age? The social meaning of lay health beliefs in later life. Ageing & Society, 18, 4, 469–94.Google Scholar
Dant, T. 2001. Fruitbox/toolbox: biography and objects. Auto/Biography, IX, 1/2, 21–32.Google Scholar
Denzin, N. K. and Giardina, M. D. 2008. Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Evidence. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, California.Google Scholar
Dionigi, R. 2008. Competing for Life: Older People, Sport and Ageing. VDM Verlag, Saarbrücken, Germany.Google Scholar
Eichberg, H. 2000. Life cycle sports: on movement culture and ageing. In Hansen, J. and Nielsen, N. (eds), Sports, Body and Health. Odense University Press, Odense, Denmark, 89–104.Google Scholar
Frank, A. W. 1995. The Wounded Storyteller. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Frank, A. W. 2010. Letting Stories Breathe: A Socio-narratology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Freeman, M. 2000. When the story's over: narrative foreclosure and the possibility of self-renewal. In Andrews, M., Sclatter, S., Squire, C. and Treader, A. (eds), Lines of Narrative. Routledge, London, 81–91.Google Scholar
Freeman, M. 2010. Hindsight: The Promise and Peril of Looking Backward. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. and Higgs, P. 2000. Cultures of Ageing, Self, Citizen and the Body. Prentice Hall, Harlow, UK.Google Scholar
Gimlin, D. 2007. Constructions of ageing and narrative resistance in a commercial slimming group. Ageing & Society, 27, 3, 407–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, B. C. 2001. ‘You're never too old’: beliefs about physical activity and playing sport in later life. Ageing & Society, 21, 6, 777–98.Google Scholar
Griffin, M. 2010. Setting the scene: hailing women into a running identity. Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise, 2, 2, 153–74.Google Scholar
Gubrium, J. F. 2001. Narrative, experience and aging. In Kenyon, G., Clark, P. and de Vries, B. (eds), Narrative Gerontology, Theory, Practice and Research. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 19–30.Google Scholar
Gullette, M. M. 1997. Declining to Decline: Cultural Combat and the Politics of Midlife. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, Virginia.Google Scholar
Help the Aged 2008. Physical Activity Policy Statement. Available online at http://policy.helptheaged.org.uk/_policy/Health/PublicHealth/_default.htm [Accessed 15 March 2011].Google Scholar
Heywood, L. and Dworkin, S. L. 2003. Built to Win: The Female Athlete as Cultural Icon. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota.Google Scholar
HM Government 2009. Building a Society for All Ages. Available online at www.hmg.gov.uk/buildingasocietyforallages [Accessed 15 March 2011].Google Scholar
Holstein, J. and Gubrium, J. 2000. The Self We Live By. Oxford University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Holstein, M. and Meredith, M. 2003. Self, society and the ‘new gerontology’. The Gerontologist, 43, 6, 787–96.Google Scholar
Horton, S. 2010. Masters athletes as role models? In Baker, J., Horton, S. and Weir, P. (eds), The Masters Athlete: Understanding the Role of Sport and Exercise in Optimizing Aging. Routledge, London, 122–36.Google Scholar
International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association 2011. IHRSA Research. Available online at http://www.ihrsa.org/research [Accessed 13 May 2011].Google Scholar
Kenyon, G., Bohlmeijer, E. and Randall, W. (eds) 2011. Storying Later Life: Issues, Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative Gerontology. Open University Press, Buckingham, UK.Google Scholar
Kenyon, G. and Randall, W. 1997. Restorying Our Lives: Personal Growth Through Autobiographical Reflection. Praeger, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
LeCompte, M. D. and Preissle, J. 1993. Ethnography and Qualitative Design in Educational Research. Second edition, Academic Press, San Diego, California.Google Scholar
Levy, B. R. 2001. Eradication of ageism requires addressing the enemy within. The Gerontologist, 41, 5, 578–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R. and Zilber, T. 1998. Narrative Research: Reading, Analysis, and Interpretation. Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, V. 2007. Dialogue in the narrative process. Medical Humanities, 33, 1, 49–54.Google Scholar
Mattingly, C. 1998. Healing Dramas and Clinical Plots. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meadows, D. 2003. Digital storytelling: research-based practice in new media. Visual Communication, 2, 2, 189–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, M. A. 1997. Narrative identity and dementia: a study of emotion and narrative in older people. Ageing & Society, 17, 6, 673–98.Google Scholar
Moody, H. R. 1988. Abundance of Life. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Moody, H. R. 2005. From successful aging to conscious aging. In Winkle, M. L., Whitehouse, P. J. and Morris, D. L. (eds), Successful Aging Through the Life Span: Intergenerational Issues in Health. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 55–68.Google Scholar
Nelson, H. L. 2001. Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair. Cornell University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Novec, S., Morris-Oswald, T. and Menec, V. 2011. Using photovoice with older adults: some methodological strengths and issues. Ageing & Society, doi:10.1017/S0144686X11000377.Google Scholar
Öberg, P. 2003. Images versus experience of the aging body. In Faircloth, C. (ed.), Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experiences. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, California, 103–39.Google Scholar
Ory, M., Hoffman, M. K., Hawkins, M., Sanner, B. and Mockenhaupt, R. 2003. Challenging aging stereotypes: strategies for creating a more active society. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 25, 3, 164–71.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. 2010 a. Auto-photography in aging studies: exploring issues of identity construction in mature bodybuilders. Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 3, 167–80.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. 2010 b. Seeing the world of physical culture: the potential of visual methods for qualitative research in sport and exercise. Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise, 2, 2, 93–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, C. and Smith, B. 2011. Telling a (good?) counterstory of aging? Natural bodybuilding meets the narrative of decline. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Science and Social Science, 66B, 5, 628–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phoenix, C., Smith, B. and Sparkes, A. C. 2010. Narrative analysis in aging studies: a typology for consideration. Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 1, 1–11.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. and Sparkes, A. C. 2006 a. Young athletic bodies and narrative maps of aging. Journal of Aging Studies, 20, 2, 107–21.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. and Sparkes, A. C. 2006 b. Keeping it in the family: narrative maps of ageing and young athlete's perceptions of their futures. Ageing & Society, 26, 4, 631–48.Google Scholar
Phoenix, C. and Sparkes, A. C. 2009. Being Fred: big stories, small stories and the accomplishment of a positive ageing identity. Qualitative Research, 9, 2, 83–99.Google Scholar
Pollner, M. and Stein, S. 1996. Narrative mapping of social worlds: the voice of experience in alcoholics anonymous. Symbolic Interaction, 19, 3, 203–23.Google Scholar
Randall, W. L. and McKim, A. E. 2008. Reading Our Lives: The Poetics of Growing Old. Oxford University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, W. L. and Phoenix, C. 2009. The problem with truth in qualitative interviews: reflections from a narrative perspective. Qualitative Research in Sport & Exercise, 1, 2, 125–40.Google Scholar
Riessman, C. 2008. Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Seale, C. 1999. Quality in qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 5, 4, 465–78.Google Scholar
Smith, J. K. and Deemer, D. 2000. The problem of criteria in the age of relativism. In Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Second edition, Sage, London, 877–96.Google Scholar
Smith, B. and Sparkes, A. C. 2008. Changing bodies, changing narratives and the consequences of tellability: a case study of becoming disabled through sport. Sociology of Health and Illness, 30, 2, 217–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, B. and Sparkes, A. C. 2011. Multiple responses to a chaos narrative. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness & Medicine, 15, 1, 38–53.Google Scholar
Somers, M. R. 1994. The narrative constitution of identity: a relational and network approach. Theory and Society, 23, 5, 605–49.Google Scholar
Stebbins, R. A. 1982. Serious leisure: a conceptual statement. Pacific Sociological Review, 25, 2, 251–72.Google Scholar
Tracy, S. J. 2010. Qualitative quality: eight ‘Big Tent’ criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16, 10, 837–51.Google Scholar
Tulle, E. 2008. Ageing, the Body and Social Change: Running in Later Life. Palgrave, Basingstoke, UK.Google Scholar
Tulle-Winton, E. 2000. Old bodies. In Hancock, P., Hughes, B., Jagger, E., Paterson, K., Russell, R., Tulle-Winton, E. and Tyler, M. (eds), The Body, Culture and Society: An Introduction. Open University Press, Buckingham, UK, 64–84.Google Scholar
Tuohy, R. and Stephens, C. 2011. Older adults' narratives about flood disaster: resilience, coherence, and personal identity. Journal of Aging Studies, 26, 1, 26–34.Google Scholar
Vincent, J., Tulle, E. and Bond, J. 2008. Editorial: The anti-ageing enterprise: science, knowledge, expertise, rhetoric and values. Journal of Aging Studies, 22, 4, 340–7.Google Scholar
Weir, P., Baker, J. and Horton, S. 2010. The emergence of Masters sport: participatory trends and historical developments. In Baker, J., Horton, S. and Weir, P. (eds), The Masters Athlete: Understanding the Role of Sport and Exercise in Optimizing Aging. Routledge, London, 7–14.Google Scholar
Wolcott, H. F. 1995. The Art of Fieldwork. Sage, London.Google Scholar