What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Despite considerable evidence on aging, as it relates to African elders, little is known on what and how it is like when drawn from their experiences and perceptions. This follows since it is often studied indirectly, as the emphasis is put on people with whom the elders are in relationships, obligatory or otherwise, and not necessarily on them. This also happens when aging is examined in relation to societal realities that shape how they experience the process of aging. In that, when societal realities in which they are embedded are examined, little to no effort is made to understand how they experience growing old in relation to or because of them. This dissertation explores perceptions of aging and what growing older is like. Using qualitative research methods in an old age home in KwaZulu Natal, the data to this dissertation was collected between June-July 2017 and December 2017-January 2018. Findings demonstrate that aging is a process of becoming estranged from oneself, from one's body, and from others. They reveal that, due to the collisions between physiological aging and aging in social terms, elders are simultaneously understood as people who must be respected and yet who can be estranged. Against this backdrop, from the vantage of the aged, they further show how death, living, and life are understood.

Grantor

School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Mpisi, Sabelo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ross, Fiona C

• African and Gender Studies
• Anthropology and Linguistics

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33740

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33740