Hags, Pensioners, and Wrinkled Radicals: A Global History of Aging from the 19th Century to Today

What does it mean to grow old, and who gets to do it? How do peoples, empires, and nations create, sustain, and neglect elder care, labor, and identity? What does old age tell us about our past, present, and future? This course explores how historians conceptualize aging and how it has been experienced, imagined, and withheld across time and space, from rural villages in the 19th century to the billions of dollars spent on anti-aging technologies today.