Scholarship
Where Aging Gets Complicated
Amanda Barusch’s scholarship begins where easy stories about later life fall apart: anger that may be wise, romance that does not end with youth, poverty shaped by public policy, and identities still forming long after anyone expects them to. Across books, essays, research, and narrative inquiry, she follows aging into its messy, revealing places.
Scholarship in Print
Aging Angry
2024
Fear of anger can ultimately be as destructive as expressed rage. Learn how to harness its energy and wisdom for personal and social change.
Love Stories of Later Life
2008
An exploration of romantic love in the lives of seniors, drawing on personal narratives and offering practical tools for relationship-building.
Older Women In Poverty
1994
A unique gerontological study of older women in poverty based on personal narratives that move and inspire.
The Next Question
For Grandparents Only
In Development
Nobody tells you the truth about grandparenting. Books celebrate it. Greeting cards sentimentalize it. Your friends post the highlight reel. But the real experience — joy that catches you off guard, conflicts that keep you up at night, moments when you hate your grandparent self — that's a different story. Drawing on original research and the unvarnished experiences of real grandparents, Amanda tells the story of grandparenting in turbulent times: the fierce love, the power struggles, the grief of distance, and the unexpected grace of a child who tells you to get up and look at the beautiful sky.
Featured Scholarship
Key Insights into Core Aspects of Gerontology
In the World
Amanda’s scholarship has moved through classrooms, journals, public conversations, and professional communities.
In Conversation
Recognition
Aging to Perfection
Reflections on aging, culture, identity, and later life.
“The narrative turn has generated interest in several disciplines, along with a range of methodological approaches.”
Conference Paper
On story as research