Graduation Year
2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Granting Department
Communication
Major Professor
Ellis, Carolyn, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Art Bochner, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Eric Eisenberg, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Darrell Fasching, Ph.D.
Keywords
Identity, Life Course, Aging, Loss, Autoethnography, Reunions, Social Construction, Meaning, Generation
Abstract
This dissertation explores the lives of baby boomers turning sixty as they use narrative to review their past by focusing on turning points. They reflect upon their present, and anticipate their future. The story begins at the St. Pius X High School Class of 1965's fortieth reunion, and proceeds to a class sixtieth birthday celebration and focus group. In addition, five members of the class record their life stories retrospectively. This research explores issues of identity, both personal and generational; the social construction of aging; grief, loss and death; and resilience, meaning, and spirituality. Methods used are autoethnography, narrative, participant observation, and writing as inquiry.
Scholar Commons Citation
Poole, Mary C., "The Class of ’65: Boomers at Sixty Recall Turning Points That Shaped Their Lives A Narrative Approach" (2008). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/455
