Constructing Age in ‘Middle’
Adulthood

Introduction

In this chapter, I interweave the stories of four women whose ages fluc-

tuate between 34 and 59 years. In Mexico, people in this age range, between

young adulthood and old age, are rather loosely designated as ‘adults’. No

named category exists in Spanish equivalent to the English term ‘middle-

aged’.

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This difference constitutes an important contrast between contem-

porary Mexican and Anglophone cultures, one that is central to

understanding the construction of age identity by these participants. This

chapter is organized along similar lines to the previous one, beginning with

brief biographical sketches of the four women, followed by a discussion of

their reasons for studying English. After that comes a description of their

enactment of age both in and out of the classroom. The chapter concludes

with some reflections on the construction of ‘middle’ adulthood and how

what has been learned in the course of the fieldwork addresses the issues of

interest in this book.

The Women Tell Their Stories

Introducing the Participants

Elsa, Gilda, Adela and Berta, the ‘midlife’ participants in the study, work

in distinct professions and have different family situations, competence

levels in English and chronological ages. Table 5.1 gives some basic informa-

tion about each of them. Elsa, 34, is the youngest of the group of participants

who identified themselves as ‘adults’. She has worked for several years as a

clerk in the silver department of a large and prestigious department store in

Mexico City. At the time of the fieldwork, her daughter was 17 and her son

seven years old. She never mentioned a husband or partner, even when given

express opportunities to do so in the interviews. In fact, she shared little

information about her own childhood or personal life. When I asked directly

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