Overview

Rapid population aging, once associated with only a select group of modern industrialized nations, has now become a topic of increasing global concern. This volume reframes aging on a global scale by illustrating the multiple ways it is embedded within individual, social, and cultural life courses. It presents a broad range of ethnographic work, introducing a variety of conceptual and methodological approaches to studying life-course transitions in conjunction with broader sociocultural transformations. Through detailed accounts, in such diverse settings as nursing homes in Sri Lanka, a factory in Massachusetts, cemeteries in Japan and clinics in Mexico, the authors explore not simply our understandings of growing older, but the interweaving of individual maturity and intergenerational relationships, social and economic institutions, and intimate experiences of gender, identity, and the body.

Full Product Details

Author:   Caitrin Lynch ,  Jason Danely
Publisher:   Berghahn Books
Imprint:   Berghahn Books
Volume:   1
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.549kg
ISBN:  

9780857457783

ISBN 10:   0857457780
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   01 April 2013
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

PART I: FRAMEWORKS Introduction: Transitions and Transformations: Paradigms, Perspectives, and Possibilities Jason Danely and Caitrin Lynch Chapter 1. Changes in the Life Course: Strengths and Stages Mary Catherine Bateson PART II: BODIES Chapter 2. Narrating Pain and Seeking Continuity: A Life-Course Approach to Chronic Pain Management Lindsey Martin  Chapter 3. Venting Anger From the Body During Gengnianqi: Meanings of Midlife Transition Among Chinese Women in Reform-Era Beijing Jeanne L. Shea Chapter 4. “I Don’t Want to Be Like My Father:” Masculinity, Modernity, and Intergenerational Relationships in Mexico Emily Wentzell PART III: SPATIALITY AND TEMPORALITY Chapter 5. Shifting Moral Ideals of Aging in Poland: Suffering, Self-Actualization, and the Nation Jessica C. Robbins Chapter 6. A Window into Death: Euthanasia and End-of-Life in the Public-Private Space of the Dutch Home Frances Norwood Chapter 7. Temporality, Spirituality, and the Life Course in an Aging Japan Jason Danely PART IV: FAMILIES Chapter 8. “I Have to Stay Healthy:” Elder Caregiving and the Third Age in a Brazilian Community Diana De G. Brown Chapter 9. Grandmothering in Life-Course Perspective:  A Study of Puerto Rican Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren in the United States Marta B. Rodríguez-Galán Chapter 10. Care Work and Property Transfers: Intergenerational Family Obligations in Sri Lanka Michele Ruth Gamburd PART V: ECONOMIES Chapter 11. Personhood, Appropriate Dependence, and the Rise of Eldercare Institutions in India Sarah Lamb Chapter 12. Membership and Mattering: Agency and Work in a New England Factory Caitrin Lynch Chapter 13. Life Courses of Indebtedness in Rural Nigeria Jane I. Guyer and Kabiru K. Salami Afterword: On Generations and Aging: “Fresh Contact” of a Different Sort Jennifer Cole Contributors’ Bios Bibliography

Reviews

- an important contribution to the field...excellent chapters within a comprehensive anthropological framework that touches on an increasingly important global demographic trend. The book counters the universalizing tendency of some disciplines to model aging after Western lifestyles. * Philip B. Stafford, University of Indiana This is a well-crafted volume and an important addition to the literature on aging and the life course. It provides an invaluable cross-cultural perspective that emphasizes how the life course is framed within a cultural context and how cultures change over time. The chapters focus on a large number of ethnographic cases and are organized well for use by students or professionals wanting an updated overview. * Dena Shenk, University of North Carolina Charlotte This volume is a welcome addition to [the literature], particularly because it speaks to concerns in the cross-cultural study of aging and in anthropology. It was a pleasure to read. * Peter Collings, University of Florida

Author Information

Caitrin Lynch is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Visiting Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University.

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