When Aging Becomes Optional: An Ethnographic Study of Anti-Aging Practices in London
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Master's thesis submitted at the Department of Social Anthropology, spring 2024.
By: Rebekka Obrestad
Supervisor: Professor Annelin Eriksen
This thesis is inspired by how technological innovation has spurred a “war on death”. By this, I refer to how aging has become an ‘ optional’ process, rather than an unavoidable part of life. This thesis is a result of a five-month fieldwork in London, whereas the data is gathered by participant observation and interviews. My findings present an idea of aging being a disease, in which needs to be cured. However, I have found that this war is generally shaped by economic capacity, lifestyle, and gender. To take care of one’s aging body, now implies a responsibility of maintaining both a youthful exterior and a healthy interior. Interlocutors with different understandings of what aging ‘well’ means, do so by engaging in different anti-aging practices. These anti-aging practices includes slowing down, reversing or even stopping the aging process altogether.
