Universität zu Köln

Schaefer, Daniel, Von Huelsen-Esch, Andrea and Fangerau, Heiner (2019). Walking aids seen from a cultural historical perspective Functional and semantic diversity of assistive systems facilitating locomotion in old age. Z. Gerontol. Geriatr., 52. HEIDELBERG: SPRINGER HEIDELBERG. ISSN 1435-1269

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Abstract

Background: Assistance systems serving the locomotion of older people interact in many ways with the culture of a society. Since early modern times at the latest, walking aids were tantamount to human frailty; however, the cane also symbolized governmental power or reputation. Nowadays, the cane, the wheelchair, and the rollator have not only a functional significance in terms of a better mobility, they also enable people to take an active part in social life. Objective This study aimes at tracing back these provisional insights into the history of civilization and thereby analyze the roots, new forms and pictures of the handling and metaphors of these assistance systems. The goal in the context of this special issue is to decipher a central textual and pictorial symbol of old age, comparing it with more recent symbols of assistance in old age. Material and methods Methodologically, the text combines approaches of philology and history of medicine with those of the history of art. It analyzes (after a brief retrospection of ancient times and the Middle Ages) by means of textual and pictorial sources from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries the historical development of these aids of locomotion for older people. Additionally, it explores the cultural relevancy of these assistance systems. Results and discussion In history the medical profession paid relatively late and then only minor attention to the assistive systems analyzed here. Its semantic diversity is closely related to the age roles and stereotypes of age prevailing in certain epochs. The more the respective assistive tool is used by old people, the more suitable it is as a symbol of old age and the more biased and negative the semantic connotation seems to be. The development of a symbol of age connoting frailty, at present symbolized most clearly by the rollator, tends to refer to a pejorative image of age in a society. The cultural historical analysis suggests that a contrasting development will only be possible when the assistive systems will again fulfil a diversity of alternative functions and semantics.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schaefer, Daniel UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Von Huelsen-Esch, Andrea UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Fangerau, Heiner UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-142383
DOI:	10.1007/s00391-019-01603-6
Journal or Publication Title:	Z. Gerontol. Geriatr.
Volume:	52
Date:	2019
Publisher:	SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
Place of Publication:	HEIDELBERG
ISSN:	1435-1269
Language:	German
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Geriatrics & Gerontology; Gerontology Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/14238