From the Inside Looking Out: Competing Ideas About Growing Old

In From The Inside Looking Out, Auger, Tedford-Litle and Wallace-Allen seek to overcome the “us” and “them” dichotomy that characterizes much of the literature on aging. By asking older people to talk about their experiences and treating this information as valuable, the authors have presented a tool that can be used to begin such a process.

This second edition documents the lived experiences of older persons obtained from a series of focus group discussions and interviews across Nova Scotia. Individuals compare their realities of growing old with the often-theoretical assumptions of gerontologists and specialists who claim knowledge of the aging experience. In this field of study, there are few instances where the voices of older persons are heard, other than as consumers of various programs and services. Furthermore, the voices of Indigenous and African-Canadians are typically unheard. Topics covered include health care, life satisfaction, death and dying, end of life decisions, cultural differences in the aging process, spirituality and religion, ageism and discrimination, and the critique of the many stereotypes of growing older.

Jeanette Auger is a professor emeritus of sociology at Acadia University, where she taught full-time for more than forty years and still teaches two online courses. She has written or co-authored nine books, most in the field of gerontology/aging and queer studies. As well as her teaching and research experience, she has also worked in a variety of capacities as a community development researcher and volunteer, specifically in organizations which provide services and programs to older people and their important ones. She was one of the founders of the Valley Hospice Society and chaired the board of a multi-complex seniors facility in the Annapolis Valley. Her work is intended to assist older people and those who are dying because her philosophy is that we all study and try to assist in our own aging.

Diane Tedford-Litle is a women’s activist and former palliative care volunteer with the Victorian Order of Nurses in Nova Scotia. She has volunteered with a number of organizations including the Seniors Network, the Hospice Consultation Committee and the Gerontology Association of Nova Scotia.