While writing her PhD about changing the depiction of ageing, Rebecca Carpenter-Mew spoke with us about the importance of fighting myths and stereotypes, and offers some of her top tips for successfully navigating a PhD.
What is your role at Flinders?
My role is to be a diligent and focussed PhD student. My submission date is February 2023, so I certainly feel the pressure to keep the momentum going. This semester, I also started working in a casual capacity as learning advisor in Central Library with Student Learning Support Services. It has been wonderful to engage with a variety of students across year levels and see the range of support services Flinders offers. I was a high school English teacher for 15 years, so the role in the library allows me to draw on some of those skills.
What is your research focused on?
The trajectory of my research was a bit unclear in those first months, but as my Supervisor Dr Tully Barnett said, the default position was to read, read, read. So, I read plenty of fiction. Thank goodness for online book shopping during COVID lockdowns! From that reading, I felt I had been written out of the coming-of-age story.
After reaching adulthood, there seems this huge expanse of time for further evolution, challenge, growth, development of self and the opportunity to rewrite one’s own life narrative. However, in the fiction I was reading, those elements only seemed available to those under 45 years of age. Representations are powerful tools; people need to see themselves represented, but I was struggling to see uplifting reflections of women in their 50s; which is me. So, I investigated the depiction of ageing women in contemporary literature published from 2018 onwards.
Some books showed women’s lives defined by progress and evolution, recalibration and acceptance; some showed women’s lives being about decline and sacrifice. What I found, particularly in literary fiction, were narratives written by middle-aged authors writing about older age (70-to-80-year-olds) and projecting their own anxieties onto representations of ageing. Some authors become entangled in identifying the problem of society’s constraints upon ageing women but then enforced those constraints upon women characters; the authors were both victims and perpetrators of ageist rhetoric.
Why is fighting ageism so important?
In 1969, Robert Butler coined the term ‘ageism’. At the time, he hoped that ageism might parallel sexism and racism as the great issues addressed through the next 20 to 30 years. It’s taken a little longer than Butler anticipated, but 50 years on, we have the Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030, which is a global collaboration instigated by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and Human Rights Commission.
Literary fiction provides secret insights into the way a society feels about ageing and its ageing population. We absorb stories of ageing over a lifetime. We internalise myths and stereotypes, role expectations and age-appropriate behaviour particularly of older women. It seeps into our psyches and becomes the collective consciousness of ageing.
We must be cognisant of ageist language and therefore challenge celebrated and not-so-celebrated novels, so that narrow cliches and old cultural scripts are not perpetuated and repeated on a feedback loop. We also need younger generations to contribute to a conversation about ageism, so that solutions belong to everyone.
What do you love most about your role?
I feel like the lucky kid who gets to sit at the adults’ table at Christmas time. I love the collaboration and connection with esteemed academics, and my fortnightly discussions with Dr Barnett who challenges me to think in different ways. I also appreciate the opportunity to connect with a wide group of scholars, who have become friends, and to write and share this frustrating, challenging and wonderful journey together.
I love the awe and excitement of discovering something new through research to offer different theories and that I can contribute to society’s conversation about ageism. I also love being flexible with my time, to adapt to the changing daily life of teenagers.
What wisdom would you pass on to someone just starting their candidature?
I’ll provide three! Trust the process. Get a referencing system sorted early on, such as Zotero, EndNote or Mendeley. And consider ‘give and take’ during candidature – research, teach and be of service to others, such as being part of a postgrad committee.
How do you like to spend your spare time?
I like going to wineries with my husband and locking in a weekly family dinner or breakfast out somewhere. One of my daughters is undertaking a Certificate IV in photography as part of her SACE, so we search out potential photo shoot opportunities and then make it an expedition. We love catching up with friends, both here and interstate.