O paradoxo da identidade na representação da velhice: análise cultural de entrevistas de mulheres publicadas na revista Mais 60

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the interviews of women published in the Mais 60 – Estudos sobre envelhecimento, in order to verify the concept of old age and its representation, since the hegemonic discourse of positive aging has occupied more place in the communicative media. Based on the concept of old age as an element of analysis, this research has the following guiding question: Is the social representation of old age defended by the Mais 60 magazine, in its editorials, in line with the conception of old age published in the interviews? For this, it becomes necessary to provoke a discussion about the representation of old age in the contemporary context, and the conceptions about identity, from the perspective of Cultural Studies, with the methodological approach of cultural analysis to understand socioeconomic and cultural changes. Cultural analysis linked to cultural materialism encompasses political and conjunctural aspects and articulates cultural production and consumption, giving meaning to the interpretations, values and experiences of the subjects. The analysis categories used for this research were: old age, woman, memory, identity, representation, with the objective of analyzing Lourdes Barreto's interviews from ed. nº 77 of August 2020 under the title: “I have been fighting for the issue of elderly women, because it is still a very big social exclusion…”; by Marta Gil from the ed. nº 73 of August of 2019 titled: “When you have inclusive education well done with teaching it becomes very concrete and when it becomes very concrete it is good…”; and by Ume Shimada published in ed. nº 76 of April 2020 under the title “We have to work to make the day. No work, no fun. Work helps a lot.” As a result of the research, it is understood that the Mais 60 magazine has its attention focused on the publication of texts of gerontological approaches and that, although it is a magazine aimed at the public over 60 years, it privileges positive aging, and does not value the " old".