Dr Elizabeth Barry presented her paper ‘”We Hang Up Laughing”: Laughter, Dementia and Time’ to CHHS members on the 3rd of March.
Barry’s paper explored the phenomenology of time for those with dementia, exploring the implications of the loss of the ability to expect, as well as to remember, and how this conditions lived experience. The paper was informed in this endeavour by neurophenomenological explorations of expectation and surprise undertaken by Francisco Varela and Natalie Depraz. The paper considered the interaction of this disordered experience of time with the chronometric, task-oriented temporality of the care setting. Finally, it explored the role of laughter, and its own particular temporality, in communication, care and therapy for those with dementia. It took as its evidence memoirs by those with dementia and by caregivers, as well as qualitative studies in psychology, sociology and linguistics that investigate the lived experience of dementia.