Professor Julia Twigg

Professor Julia Twigg is a leading writer in the field of age studies, focussing on Cultural Gerontology. Recently she has explored the role of clothing and dress in the constitution of age, examining questions of embodiment and materiality in relation to age.

Professor Twigg’s recent work has addressed:

• The significance of Cultural Gerontology in age studies: with Dr Wendy Martin, she co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology which has drawn together new developments across the social sciences and humanities. A new revised edition is in preparation
• The role of clothing and dress in the constitution of age: she has looked at this from the perspective of older people, the fashion industry and the media. Initially the work focussed on older women, but recently she has extended the work to older men and to the significance of masculinities in age
• Dementia: she has also engaged in work, with Dr Christina Buse, exploring the significance of dress in the lives of people dementia, focussing in particular on question of materiality and identity
• Carework as bodywork: in her work on the role of embodiment in age, she argued for the significance of care work as a form of bodywork, focussing on the front line of care and the provision of personal care, particularly bathing
• Earlier work explored informal care, and the provision of social care. Her doctoral work at LSE addressed vegetarianism in the nineteenth and twentieth century.  

She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and sits on its nominations committee. She chairs the Editorial Board of Ageing & Society, and annual Outstanding Achievement board of British Society of Gerontology; and is Joint Chair of British Sociological Association’s Ageing, Body and Society Group.