In her book Culture, Context and Aging of Older Indians: Narratives from India and Beyond (2021) published by Springer Nature, Jagriti Gangopadhyay undertakes the gargantuan task of studying how the process of ageing is shaped by context and culture within multiple sites in India and abroad. Throughout the book, Gangopadhyay lays out the context of demographic transition, observed globally albeit the local distinctions. The distinctions and cultural specifications underpin the study, which is the subject matter.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The five core chapters that focus on the cities of Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur, Delhi, Kolkata and Saskatoon expound on the different experiences of ageing and practices of caregiving in the different cities. All the chapters focus on the urban and yet bring in the different shades of urban through the interesting choice of cities.

The introductory chapter lays out the theoretical framework and the research design that the author adopted. She draws largely from sociological literature in India, which focus on the joint family. The author analyses how the context of globalisation and rapid urbanisation has influenced ageing and intergenerational caregiving. The study was a multisided one, and the interlocutors also vary depending on the location. For instance, in Jamshedpur, the author’s interlocutors were older adults residing in old age homes, while in Delhi, they were older couples with children living outside the country. The book rests on a body of rich data that includes interviews of older adults and the co-resident and non-co-resident adult children engaged directly or indirectly in fulfilling filial caregiving obligations. The author uses the grounded theory approach, which relies on the simultaneous processes of data collection, analysis and theory development coupled with the interpretative approach to make sense of everyday experiences of ageing.

Chapter two studies ageing among older adults living in multigenerational families of Ahmedabad. The city’s cultural and economic lattice serves as one of the different types of ageing practices that the author writes about in the book. Older adults in business families of Ahmedabad, the author contends, use business proprietorship to negotiate their position within households. In this case, elderly care becomes the responsibility of family and kin.

In contrast to this, the industrial town of Jamshedpur sees the older people depending significantly on paid institutional care. Being one of the foremost industrial towns, Jamshedpur witnessed an influx of industrial employees who settled in the city and now are dependent on old age homes. This forms the subject for the third chapter of the book.

It is in chapter four that the author carefully draws in the global. She looks at transnational care by studying older adults whose kin reside outside the country. Notions of community care are important in the city. Moreover, for the elites, the aspiration to be at par with the global caregiving standards is reflected in their choices and practices. The author draws Bourdieu’s concept of social capital to understand the same. What is interesting to note is how virtual and digital care enter caregiving practices among the elites in the city.

The city of Kolkata conveys its own story of ageing. According to the author, the processes of economic liberalisation and globalisation have influenced youth or young adult migrations to other metropolitan cities. However, for the elderly, the sense of belonging to the city prevented their movement. So, a significant section of the elderly population in the city lives alone within homes or care institutions. The fifth chapter is a standout for its focus on financially independent older adults coping with the loss of a partner. The recurrent theme in the chapter are ‘loneliness’ and ‘coping with loss’. 

The narrative from beyond India is brought in through the study of the diasporic Indian community in Canada. Chapter six of the book looks at the Canadian city of Saskatoon and elaborates on the experiences of immigrant Indians who moved there as young adults and chose to age in the city. The final chapter builds upon the previous chapters making a comparative analysis of different caregiving practices for the elderly, and argues for a disparate policy approach for elderly care, taking into consideration the cultural contexts.

Gerontological studies in the country have largely focused on health outcomes or living arrangements. The role of culture and context in determining caregiving practices has been scarcely analysed. This book fits into the interstice of sociological and gerontological studies, making culture the entry point to study ageing as a socio-cultural and economic process.

What is unique about Gangopadhyay’s study is that she has been able to provide the readers a detailed account of geographically, culturally, and economically distinct sites in one place. Doing justice to its title, the book brings in the different narratives. However, at the end of every chapter, one is left with the want to read more. Each chapter forms a blueprint for further academic literature that looks at the role of context and culture in influencing caregiving practices for older adults. What would also be interesting is to look at the different welfare regimes. The State has deeply shaped caregiving in different contexts, and a comprehensive study of contexts would entail interrogating the different regimes.

The book emerges as an important introductory text to socio-gerontological literature that can be further developed. Finally, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has raised critical questions on health, isolation, and caregiving for the elderly this book serves as an essential read.

By Jitu

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10 months ago

[…] Gangopadhyay’s book Culture, Context and Aging of Older Indians: Narratives from India and Beyond (2021) explores the cultural constructions of growing old and the everyday processes of ageing. […]