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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, obliga...

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Main Author: Mpisi, Sabelo
Other Authors: Ross, Fiona C
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling 2021
Subjects:
African and Gender Studies
Anthropology and Linguistics
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access_status_str Open Access
author Mpisi, Sabelo
author2 Ross, Fiona C
author_browse Mpisi, Sabelo
Ross, Fiona C
author_facet Ross, Fiona C
Mpisi, Sabelo
author_sort Mpisi, Sabelo
collection Thesis
description 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.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:52.713Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling
publisherStr School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33740 What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa Mpisi, Sabelo Ross, Fiona C African and Gender Studies Anthropology and Linguistics 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. 2021-08-12T09:25:18Z 2021-08-12T09:25:18Z 2021 2021-08-12T09:23:22Z Master Thesis Masters MSocSci http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33740 eng application/pdf School of African and GenderStuds, Anth and Ling Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle African and Gender Studies
Anthropology and Linguistics
Mpisi, Sabelo
What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_full What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_fullStr What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_short What the Aging is Going On: An ethnography on the Perceptions of Aging in an Old Age Home in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_sort what the aging is going on an ethnography on the perceptions of aging in an old age home in kwazulu natal south africa
topic African and Gender Studies
Anthropology and Linguistics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33740
work_keys_str_mv AT mpisisabelo whattheagingisgoingonanethnographyontheperceptionsofaginginanoldagehomeinkwazulunatalsouthafrica

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