Alterskulturen des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit

Old age and aging has become a very current topic. Familiar expressions like "growing old" or "being old" have proven complex and their definitions are in flux. The discussions concerning aging are characterized by a particularly broad interdisciplinarity. The expression "culture of old age", which has arisen from these discussions, is attempting to do justice to the concept´s manifold forms and to expand definitions that have become too narrow. The concept of cultures of old age incorporates models and realities as well as structures and coding, placing the perception of aging and the dealings with the elderly and old objects into their respective social contexts. In October 2006, the Institute for the Material Culture of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period organized an international congress that focused on medieval and early modern cultures of old age (13th to 17th century). The context, discourse, and realities of old age and aging as portrayed in various primary sources was investigated and analyzed comparatively from the perspective of a number of disciplines in the humanities, the social and the natural sciences, as well as cultural studies.