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This volume brings together chapters about aging in many non-Western cultures, from Africa and Asia to South America, from American Indians to Australian and Hawaii Aboriginals. It also includes articles on other issues of aging, such as falling, dementia, and elder abuse. It was thought that in Africa or Asia, elders were revered and taken care of. This certainly used to be the case. But the Western way has moved into these places, and we now find that elders are often left on their own or in institutions, as younger people have migrated to other cities and even countries. Grandparents often find themselves being parents to their grandchildren, a far cry from the kind of life they believed they would have as they aged. This book will explore all these issues and will be of use to students and researchers in this relatively new field.
In an attempt to understand the meaning of ageing and the treatment of the aged in different cultures, seven anthropologists have made studies of 10 communities on four continents - the results of which are presented in this book. The authors use both qualitative and statistical data to examine such issues as: health and well-being, perceptions of the life course, material resources, and functionality of elders. A unique resource, The Aging Experience provides a detailed comparative analysis of ageing worldwide.
The collective, inclusive, and intersectional framework used in this book speaks to the significance of understanding aging across diverse cultures from multiple perspectives, but still as a shared human experience. The underlying message of the book is that although we are unique and different in our aging processes, we are ultimately connected through this physical, mental and spiritual experience of aging. Thus, regardless of whether we are service providers, service recipients, educators or merely fellow human beings, it is important that we approach the aging experience through a collective lens for discovering and sharing resources as we age; honoring the past while simultaneously accepting that the future is here. A few select examples of key findings from this collaborative work are as follows. First, despite progress in the field, certain issues remain to be addressed including the challenges of racism and sexism, mistreatment, the digital divide, poverty, and other social and economic crises in urban and rural communities as they relate to our aging population. Second, the need for sustaining a sense of independence among the aged and interdependence among supportive systems is warranted. Third, our elders continue to benefit from culturally competent services community-based health interventions and social services that addresses normative and emerging challenges for them. Fourth, spirituality in both indigenous and contemporary perspectives remains important for our elders’ development and quality of life.
This open access book provides a comprehensive perspective on the concept of ageism, its origins, the manifestation and consequences of ageism, as well as ways to respond to and research ageism. The book represents a collaborative effort of researchers from over 20 countries and a variety of disciplines, including, psychology, sociology, gerontology, geriatrics, pharmacology, law, geography, design, engineering, policy and media studies. The contributors have collaborated to produce a truly stimulating and educating book on ageism which brings a clear overview of the state of the art in the field. The book serves as a catalyst to generate research, policy and public interest in the field of ageism and to reconstruct the image of old age and will be of interest to researchers and students in gerontology and geriatrics.
This book situates the essential areas of psychology within a cultural perspective, exploring the relationship of culture to psychological phenomena, from introduction and research foundations to clinical and social principles and applications. • Includes contributions from an experienced, international team of researchers and teachers • Brings together new perspectives and research findings with established psychological principles • Organized around key issues of contemporary cross-cultural psychology, including ethnocentrism, diversity, gender and sexuality and their role in research methods • Argues for the importance of culture as an integral component in the teaching of psychology
First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
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.
In Through Japanese Eyes, based on her thirty-year research at a senior center in upstate New York, anthropologist Yohko Tsuji describes old age in America from a cross-cultural perspective. Comparing aging in America and in her native Japan, she discovers that notable differences in the panhuman experience of aging are rooted in cultural differences between these two countries, and that Americans have strongly negative attitudes toward aging because it represents the antithesis of cherished American values, especially independence. Tsuji reveals that American culture, despite its seeming lack of guidance for those aging, plays a pivotal role in elders’ lives, simultaneously assisting and constraining them. Furthermore, the author’s lengthy period of research illustrates major changes in her interlocutors’ lives, incorporating their declines and death, and significant shifts in the culture of aging in American society as Tsuji herself gets to know American culture and grows into senescence herself. Through Japanese Eyes offers an ethnography of aging in America from a cross-cultural perspective based on a lengthy period of research. It illustrates how older Americans cope with the gap between the ideal (e.g., independence) and the real (e.g., needing assistance) of growing older, and the changes the author observed over thirty years of research.
This book brings together state-of-the-art research on successful aging in Asian populations and highlights how the factors that contribute to successful aging differ from those in the West. It examines the differences between the Asian and Western contexts in which the aging process unfolds, including cultural values, lifestyles, physical environments and family structures. In addition, it examines the question of how to add quality to longer years of life. Specifically, it looks at ways to promote health, preserve cognition, maximize functioning with social support and maintain emotional well-being despite inevitable declines and losses. Compared to other parts of the world, Asia will age more quickly as a result of the rapid socioeconomic developments leading to rising longevity and historically low fertility rates in some countries. These demographic forces in vast populations such as China are expected to make Asia the main driver of global aging in the coming decades. As a result, researchers, professionals, policymakers, as well as the commercial sector, in both East and West, are increasingly interested in gaining a deeper understanding of aging in Asia.
Recently, the communication discipline has devoted increasing energy toward the study of aging, yet most of the research has insufficiently addressed a crucial factor in communicative relationships--culture. Meanwhile, cross-cultural/intercultural communication has not adequately addressed the aging process. Combining three powerful elements--communication, aging, and culture--all of which have an increasingly profound impact on today's multicultural society, this book focuses on older Americans in various communicative contexts within the framework of their cultures. Composed of original research by experts in their respective fields, the book combines communication, aging, and culture for a unique examination of those elements in American society. Section 1 deals with perspectives in cross-cultural communication and aging. These perspectives both illustrate the issues that greatly affect the lives of our elders and suggest ways to improve their status. Section 2 showcases three American co-cultures: Hawaiian, Arab, and Mormon illustrate how language, attitudes, and mentoring can serve as the links for maintaining cross-generational continuity in multicultural society. Section 3 demonstrates that many American organizations frequently contribute to the hardships that both internal elder customers (employees) and external elder customers (residents and patients) must endure. Section 4 incorporates popular culture and aging. It presents the role of selective popular media in portraying our elders. Because Americans rely heavily on the media, their mediated perceptions can have a profound impact on their attitudes toward the older population. Designed as a reader or supplementary text for college students in communication, gerontology, anthropology, sociology, and other related fields, this text can also be used by professionals in gerontological service areas, by libraries, and as a personal reference. It offers extensive appendices, figures, and tables for additional reference.