Commentary: Visual/Multimodal Anthropology of Aging, Care and the Life Course: Notes on an Emergent Field

Abstract

In this commentary we map the recently burgeoning interest of anthropologists in mobilizing visual and multimodal methods to explore issues related to aging, care, and the life course. We demonstrate how within the anthropology of aging, visuality, multisensoriality and various media formats have been used as objects of research, epistemological tools and/or a mode of recounting ethnographic stories. We also highlight the current debates about ethical challenges involved in doing the visual ethnography of ageing and care. We conclude by suggesting solutions that may help create more sustained conditions for a visual and multimodal anthropology of aging to be pursued within academia and beyond.

Keywords

• Visual anthropology
• Multimodality
• Multimedia
• Multisensoriality
• More-than-textual publishing
• Ethics