Storied Complexities of Later Life: Narrative Gerontology Comes of Age (Explorations in Narrative Psychology) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0197827969 ISBN 13: 9780197827963

Publisher: OUP USA, 2026

Synopsis

This volume offers a timely and authoritative overview of narrative gerontology, a dynamic interdisciplinary field that examines aging through the stories by which lives are understood, lived, and remembered. Bringing together leading scholars and emerging voices, the collection takes stock of developments in theory, research, and practice since the publication of earlier foundational works, while pointing toward new directions for the field.
Grounded in the concept of biographical aging, the chapters move beyond predominantly biomedical accounts of later life to explore subjective experience, identity, meaning-making, and self-continuity across the life course. Contributors draw on narrative psychology, sociology, philosophy, and the arts and humanities to address diverse forms of narrative-from life stories and small stories to poetry, drama, and autobiographical writing-and to consider their ethical, cultural, and practical implications.
The volume is organized around three core domains: theoretical horizons, empirical research inquiries, and narrative engagements in practice. Topics include hope and spirituality, suffering and care, resilience and agency, dementia, disability, intergenerational narratives, and experiences of trauma. Several chapters demonstrate how narrative approaches can be used in applied settings to support coping, well-being, and identity in later life.
Concluding reflections by prominent narrative scholars extend the dialogue between narrative theory and lived experience, underscoring the continued relevance of narrative perspectives for understanding aging. Together, the contributions position narrative gerontology as an essential framework for advancing scholarship on later life within gerontology and beyond.

About this title

About the Author

Kate de Medeiros, PhD, is a Social Gerontologist and Researcher whose work is broadly focused on understanding the experiences of later life using narratives and other qualitative approaches. Research topics have included storying later life, friendships among people living with dementia, cultural narratives of aging, and the meaning of home. She has served as the director of research for the Copper Ridge Institute, Professor of Gerontology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and as Professor of Sociology at Concordia University in Montreal. Her books include Narrative Gerontology in Research and Practice, The Short Guide to Aging and Gerontology, and Critical Humanities and Ageing: Forging Interdisciplinary Dialogues

Gabriela Spector-Mersel, MSW, PhD, is an Associate Professor and the head of the aging branch in Sadot Resilience and Growth Center, at the School of Social Work at Sapir College, Israel. She also serves as chair of the interest groups in Qualitative Research and as an

advisor to the Narrative Research interest group at Mofet Institute. Her research interests include narrative gerontology, trauma in later life, specifically aging under terror threats, and later life masculinities. She has published books, papers and chapters in these fields.

William L. Randall, William (Bill) Randall is Emeritus Professor of Gerontology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, where he taught for 27 years. During the Lent term of 2024, while a Visiting Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, he hosted an interdisciplinary conference on "Ageing as Adventure."

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197827969
• ISBN 13: 9780197827963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 386
• Editor: De Medeiros Kate, Spector-Mersel Gabriela, Randall William L.