Full-text November 2009 In Focus commentaries will be available here through November 30, and subsequently through AnthroSource. Share your comments on these articles through the AAA blog. Read more about accessing Anthropology News electronically on our archives page. See the AN homepage for information on opportunities to contribute to AN.
 
Aging and the Life Course

The anthropology of aging has gained momentum as a subdiscipline in recent years, and later-life and general life course research have simultaneously become more commonly integrated into broader anthropological work. As this series demonstrates, anthropologists now undertake research on aging and the life course in a diverse range of public and private contexts in an effort to understand changing intergenerational relationships and life experiences of the elderly, and to promote healthy aging through effective health policy, services and technologies.

Jay Sokolovsky
Aging, Center Stage: New Life Course Research in Anthropology

Philip B Stafford
Aging and Developmental Disability: Emerging Concerns and Insights

Cormac Sheehan, Cathy Bailey and Susan Squires
Older Adults Speak Out: Aging and Health Policy in the Republic of Ireland

David Prendergast, John Sherry, Simon Roberts and Tim Plowman
Technology and Independent Living: The Global Aging Experience Project

Jason Alley
The Public Lives of Aging

Rebekah Park
Aging Survivors of State Violence: Long-Term Recovery of Former Political Prisoners in Argentina

Eldercare

Given the urgency suggested by current demographic shifts, policymakers and health care providers around the globe have begun to devote significant attention to the long-term needs of aging populations. Here, four anthropologists consider eldercare policies, practices and environments in Taiwan, the US, Peru and Poland, where care providers and recipients have developed a range of strategies to meet the challenges posed by changing health status, relationships and living situations in later life.

Pin Wang
Care Beyond the Body: Service Encounters in Taiwan’s Eldercare Programs

J Neil Henderson
American Indian Family Caregiving: Cultural Context and Dementia Patient Care

Jessaca Leinaweaver
Caring for Aging Parents in Peru: Social Obligations and Economic Change

Jessica C Robbins
Aging, Memory and Personhood in Poland

Featured Bonus Content

Though this page typically features In Focus commentaries only, this month we also include two special bonus articles. The first is a thematic Teaching Strategies article from Maria D Vesperi, recipient of the 2009 AAA/Oxford University Press Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology, to be presented at the AAA meeting in Philadelphia this December. The second is a photo essay from Caitrin Lynch, available as a black and white pdf below, with full color photos on the Anthropology News Flickr page.

Maria D Vesperi
Integrating Aging into Anthropology Curricula

Caitrin Lynch
Working Retirement: Age and Value in the United States (or visit the Flickr gallery)