Abstract
Reperforming the Fourth Age: Moving Beyond a Prevailing Construct of Abjection, Lack of Agency and Failure. This practice-based research project has arisen from my own personal experience as carer to my mother during the last three years of her life and by a need to make meaning from the protracted end of life process that she underwent and which I was to witness. This story is but one of many currently being played out across the world. It hides in the private sphere, but its repercussions ripple outwards and its effects are felt by many. It is expected that most of us in western societies will reach this last phase of life and what is certain, is that many more of us will face the challenge of caring for an elderly relative or will ourselves need to be cared for by others. A focus on the home itself as sanctuary disrupted is examined through the lens of magical realism to explore the changes it can undergo once the care system takes hold and its ultimate transformation into an institutional space.Performative and ultimately transformative arts- based methods are employed to challenge the scrutinising gaze of those charged with my mother’s care where I seek potential for empowerment. Mother and daughter explore events from a personal and political perspective to articulate the subjectivity of her experience as findings through arts - based inquiry. I address issues around this last phase of life with a strong focus on the caring dyad where my single case study has the potential to promote learning which moves beyond the case itself. This has been realised through the development of an autoethnographic alliance which creates a new model of collaborative autoethnography for mutual benefit and catharsis. I investigate the potential of this methodology for individuals whose research aims which although may not appear initially allied, might form their own autoethnographic alliance to co-construct their own lived experiences.
| Date of Award | May 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Julia Winckler (Supervisor), Jessica Moriarty (Supervisor) & Maria Sourbati (Supervisor) |