Amy Barron

ABSTRACT of paper This paper presents a research agenda on the geographies of middle-age, drawing on life-history interviews with self-identified middle-aged participants from Greater Manchester, UK. The place of middle-age in debates about age within and beyond human geography is explored, including the extension of the category of youth and the deferral of older age. While lived experiences of middle-age are changing and significant, they are frequently overlooked in research. This paper argues that middle-age must be theorized through approaches and concepts of and around the middle. It draws upon more-than-representational theories as one such approach to thinking from and through the middle, emphasizing in-between affective states and forms of change, whilst highlighting a range of concepts and practices of the middle such as impasse, liminality and waiting. Thinking from and through the middle advances relational approaches to age by shifting attention away from the nodes at either end of a relation, towards the middle itself as being invariably in-relation. Geographers interested in ageing are urged to focus on the middle, be these moments of betweenness earlier or later in life, or midlife and middle-age itself. Future research must keep differences in experience at the fore and maintain a distinctly relational vantage point.

I have a new paper out in Social & Cultural Geography titled: Making sense of ‘middle-age’: thinking from and through the middle. It presents a research agenda on the geographies of middle-age, and the value of thinking around the middle more generally. 🔗https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2025.2537686

08.08.2025 06:58 — 👍 12    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0

Today, 'Aesthetics and the City' is released! Edited with @joeblakey.bsky.social the book has its roots in an RC21 session, and there are some fantastic contributions featuring case studies and authors from across the globe: www.routledge.com/Aesthetics-a...

25.07.2025 09:04 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

@joeblakey.bsky.social and I have an upcoming edited book... Aesthetics and the City explores how aesthetics relates to how cities and urban spaces are perceived, organised, and transformed. There's now a web page which lists the many fascinating contributions… 🔗 bit.ly/aestheticsandthecitybook

29.04.2025 19:13 — 👍 8    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

Looking forward to reading this book over the summer months by @psimpy.bsky.social

29.04.2025 19:09 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0