In this paper, I develop features of a material gerontology which are summarised in the concept of “distributed age(ing);” that is, age(ing) that is distributed across and co-constituted through meanings, roles, and identities, as well as human and non-human forms of materiality, their productive dimensions and their relations to each other. The starting point is the critique of the human-centredness of gerontological approaches and, thus, the lack of a systematic conceptual consideration of non-human forms of materiality and agency in the context of age(ing). To overcome this problem, I propose the following shifts in perspective that are inspired by actor-network theory: from human-centredness to the recognition and consideration of the material diversity of age(ing); from the critique of subject/object dualism to the symmetrisation of materialities; from the seemingly given ontology of the ageing body to the re-ontologisation of age(ing); from the critique of intentional and causal determinants to embodiment and relationality; from linearity and chronology to the plural temporalities of age(ing). I will explain these features in more detail by using breathing as an example. I will show that the concept of distributed age(ing) allows for both the generation of new insights on age(ing) by asking how, where and when age(ing) takes place and reflection on presumptions, determinants and reductions of approaches belonging to social and cultural gerontology.

在本文中，我发展了材料老年学的特征，这些特征概括为“分布式年龄”的概念；也就是说，年龄通过意义、角色和身份以及人类和非人类的物质形式、它们的生产维度及其相互关系来分布和共同构成。出发点是对老年学方法以人类为中心的批判，因此缺乏对年龄背景下非人类形式的物质性和能动性的系统性概念考虑。为了克服这个问题，受行动者网络理论的启发，我提出以下观点转变：从以人为本到认识和考虑年龄的物质多样性；从对主客体二元论的批判到物质性的对称化；从看似既定的衰老身体本体论到年龄的重新本体论化；从对意向和因果决定因素的批判到具体化和关系性；从线性和时间顺序到年龄的复数时间性。我将以呼吸为例更详细地解释这些功能。我将证明，分布式年龄（ing）的概念既可以通过询问年龄（ing）如何、何地和何时发生，又可以反思年龄（ing）的假设、决定因素和减少方法，从而产生关于年龄（ing）的新见解。社会和文化老年学。