Age groups: the elderly / old age Books

Book SynopsisEmbracing Age: How Catholic Nuns Became Models of Aging Well examines a community of individuals whose aging trajectories contrast mainstream American experiences. In mainstream American society, aging is presented as a “problem,” a state to be avoided as long as possible, a state that threatens one’s ability to maintain independence, autonomy, control over one’s surroundings. Aging “well” (or avoiding aging) has become a twenty-first century American preoccupation. Embracing Age provides a window into the everyday lives of American Catholic nuns who experience longevity and remarkable health and well-being at the end of life. Catholic nuns aren’t only healthier in older age, they are healthier because they practice a culture of acceptance and grace around aging. Embracing Age demonstrates how aging in the convent becomes understood by the nuns to be a natural part of the life course, not one to be feared or avoided. Anna I. Corwin shows readers how Catholic nuns create a cultural community that provides a model for how to grow old, decline, and die that is both embedded in American culture and quite distinct from other American models.Instructor's Guide is available at no cost (https://d3tto5i5w9ogdd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/26120146/corwin_instructor_guide_final.pdf).Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Download open access ebook here. Trade Review"The question of why and how religious commitment seems to improve the body’s health is one of the deepest puzzles in social science. Embracing Age suggests that one answer lies in the way people of faith use language to describe their lives and worlds. This beautifully written book will change the way you think about aging." -- Tanya Marie Luhrmann * author of How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others *"The modern world urges us to outrun age, numb pain, and ignore death, but perhaps the secret to longevity and contentedness lies within the walls of a convent, where nuns practice a timeless model of gracious living. Anna Corwin, with a novitiate’s curiosity and an anthropologist’s precision, investigates the source of nuns’ grace and sparkle—and presents it as something we can tap into, too." -- Dan Zak * author of Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age *"Corwin’s lush ethnography of convent life unlocks how elderly nuns experience aging in ways that render them healthier and happier than those of us who have taken a secular path. Embracing Age brings readers into nuns’ daily spiritual (intercessory prayers) and peer support (pastoral visits to the infirm). Observations, in-depth interviews, and clinical health measures are brought together to illuminate nuns’ sense of the life-death transition." -- Elinor Ochs * co-editor of Fast-Forward Family: Home, Work, and Relationships in Middle-Class America *"In Embracing Age, Anna Corwin tells us of aging and death through the eyes and experiences of American Catholic nuns. It is revealing, enlightening, a balm for those contemplating what is too often thought of as the pain and indignity of old age. The remarkable part, though, is how much it tells of life itself, and the things that really matter." -- John Archibald * author of Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution *"Embracing Age is a sensitive and illuminating study of the pro-aging alternative offered by Catholic nuns. Through their emphasis on the interdependence of life and the value they place on 'being' rather than 'doing,' the nuns demonstrate a culture of acceptance and grace that can inspire us all." -- Sarah L. Kaufman * author of The Art of Grace and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Washington Post *"Embracing Age reveals the ways in which the culture of American convents embraces aging as a positive process, providing sustenance for mind, body, and spirit. Vividly written, this book brings the reader deep into nuns' everyday experiences of life. Astute and accessible, it will be valuable reading for anyone interested in alternative age-positive ways of living and being." -- Jeanne Shea * co-editor of Beyond Filial Piety: Rethinking Aging and Caregiving in Contemporary East Asian Societies *"Anna Corwin on her book, Embracing Aging" * Camp Anthropology *"[Corwin's] deeply researched book is a model of scholarship while also engaging nonacademic readers as well with its insightful and eloquent portrayal of convent life." * Union of Catholic Asian News *"Catholic nuns are role models for long and productive lives," by Marlene A. Zloza * NWI Catholic *"Anna Corwin’s book, Embracing Age invites us to ponder some very important questions: What does it mean to be old? What is the meaning in diminishment? How can we all 'do' this human process of aging best?...Perhaps the most potent take-away or 'secret' of aging is, as the book title asserts, not to avoid but to embrace aging." * Review for Religious *"This synthetic work culminates Corwin’s previous publications into a central claim that anthropological methods and theory illuminate the way nuns socially and linguistically embrace age to experience well-being despite age-related decline. The compelling applicability of Corwin’s conclusions make Embracing Age a critical read for social scientists, clinicians, and thoughtful humans alike. In a society obsessed with “successful aging,” but caught in a paradox that inhibits its realization, scholars like Corwin serve as trustworthy guides as they blend humanities and science into works of vital significance." * Anthropology Book Forum *"The question of why and how religious commitment seems to improve the body’s health is one of the deepest puzzles in social science. Embracing Age suggests that one answer lies in the way people of faith use language to describe their lives and worlds. This beautifully written book will change the way you think about aging." -- Tanya Marie Luhrmann * author of How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others *"The modern world urges us to outrun age, numb pain, and ignore death, but perhaps the secret to longevity and contentedness lies within the walls of a convent, where nuns practice a timeless model of gracious living. Anna Corwin, with a novitiate’s curiosity and an anthropologist’s precision, investigates the source of nuns’ grace and sparkle—and presents it as something we can tap into, too." -- Dan Zak * author of Almighty: Courage, Resistance, and Existential Peril in the Nuclear Age *"Corwin’s lush ethnography of convent life unlocks how elderly nuns experience aging in ways that render them healthier and happier than those of us who have taken a secular path. Embracing Age brings readers into nuns’ daily spiritual (intercessory prayers) and peer support (pastoral visits to the infirm). Observations, in-depth interviews, and clinical health measures are brought together to illuminate nuns’ sense of the life-death transition." -- Elinor Ochs * co-editor of Fast-Forward Family: Home, Work, and Relationships in Middle-Class America *"In Embracing Age, Anna Corwin tells us of aging and death through the eyes and experiences of American Catholic nuns. It is revealing, enlightening, a balm for those contemplating what is too often thought of as the pain and indignity of old age. The remarkable part, though, is how much it tells of life itself, and the things that really matter." -- John Archibald * author of Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights R *"Embracing Age is a sensitive and illuminating study of the pro-aging alternative offered by Catholic nuns. Through their emphasis on the interdependence of life and the value they place on 'being' rather than 'doing,' the nuns demonstrate a culture of acceptance and grace that can inspire us all." -- Sarah L. Kaufman * author of The Art of Grace and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Washington Post *"Embracing Age reveals the ways in which the culture of American convents embraces aging as a positive process, providing sustenance for mind, body, and spirit. Vividly written, this book brings the reader deep into nuns' everyday experiences of life. Astute and accessible, it will be valuable reading for anyone interested in alternative age-positive ways of living and being." -- Jeanne Shea * co-editor of Beyond Filial Piety: Rethinking Aging and Caregiving in Contemporary East Asian Societi *"Anna Corwin on her book, Embracing Aging" * Camp Anthropology *"[Corwin's] deeply researched book is a model of scholarship while also engaging nonacademic readers as well with its insightful and eloquent portrayal of convent life." * Union of Catholic Asian News *"Catholic nuns are role models for long and productive lives," by Marlene A. Zloza * NWI Catholic *"Anna Corwin’s book, Embracing Age invites us to ponder some very important questions: What does it mean to be old? What is the meaning in diminishment? How can we all 'do' this human process of aging best?...Perhaps the most potent take-away or 'secret' of aging is, as the book title asserts, not to avoid but to embrace aging." * Review for Religious *"This synthetic work culminates Corwin’s previous publications into a central claim that anthropological methods and theory illuminate the way nuns socially and linguistically embrace age to experience well-being despite age-related decline. The compelling applicability of Corwin’s conclusions make Embracing Age a critical read for social scientists, clinicians, and thoughtful humans alike. In a society obsessed with “successful aging,” but caught in a paradox that inhibits its realization, scholars like Corwin serve as trustworthy guides as they blend humanities and science into works of vital significance." * Anthropology Book Forum *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction Part I Being Well in the Convent: Prayer and Care in Interaction 1 Life in the Convent 2 Being Is Harder Than Doing: The Process of Embracing Aging 3 Talking to God: Prayer as Social Support 4 Care, Elderspeak, and Meaningful Engagement Part II Shaping Experience: The Convent in Sociohistorical Context 5 Changing God, Changing Bodies: How Prayer Practices Shape Embodied Experience 6 Spiritual Healing, Meaningful Decline, and Sister Death 7 Kenosis: Emptying the Self Conclusion Appendix: Transcription Conventions Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAfrica is known both for having a primarily youthful population and for its elders being held in high esteem. However, this situation is changing: people in Africa are living longer, some for many years with chronic, disabling illnesses. In Ghana, many older people, rather than experiencing a sense of security that they will be respected and cared for by the younger generations, feel anxious that they will be abandoned and neglected by their kin. In response to their concerns about care, they and their kin are exploring new kinds of support for aging adults, from paid caregivers to social groups and senior day centers. These innovations in care are happening in fits and starts, in episodic and scattered ways, visible in certain circles more than others. By examining emergent discourses and practices of aging in Ghana, Changes in Care makes an innovative argument about the uneven and fragile processes by which some social change occurs. There is a short film that accompanies the book, “Making Happiness: Older People Organize Themselves” (2020), an 11-minute film by Cati Coe. Available at: https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-thke-hp15Trade Review“Combining an innovative set of conceptual tools with meticulous presentation of ethnographic and historical research in both rural and urban contexts, this study makes a compelling contribution to understanding the dynamics of changing elder-care practices in Ghana. Topics covered include the intertwining of kin and non-kin roles in the work of care-giving and the uneasy relations between care-givers and domestic servants in households.” -- Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart * co-authors of Language and Culture in Dialogue *"Cati Coe understands the language of change, care and aging in Africa as well as the diversity of change in the context of the broader globalized world. She critically but sensitively explores these complexities without falling into tired binaries. Change in Africa and its implications for care are approached as complex, quiet and sporadic processes and not simplistically linear as still often proposed by exponents of modernization theory." -- Jaco Hoffman * co-editor of Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-Based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion and Belonging *“Combining an innovative set of conceptual tools with meticulous presentation of ethnographic and historical research in both rural and urban contexts, this study makes a compelling contribution to understanding the dynamics of changing elder-care practices in Ghana. Topics covered include the intertwining of kin and non-kin roles in the work of care-giving and the uneasy relations between care-givers and domestic servants in households.” -- Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart * co-authors of Language and Culture in Dialogue *"Cati Coe understands the language of change, care and aging in Africa as well as the diversity of change in the context of the broader globalized world. She critically but sensitively explores these complexities without falling into tired binaries. Change in Africa and its implications for care are approached as complex, quiet and sporadic processes and not simplistically linear as still often proposed by exponents of modernization theory." -- Jaco Hoffman * co-editor of Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-Based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 The Orthodoxy of Family Care Part I Changes in Aging in the Rural Towns of the Eastern Region 2 Heterodox Ideas of Elder Care: From Nursing Homes to Savings 3 Alterodox Practices of Elder Care: Domestic Service and Neighborliness 4 “Loneliness Kills”: Stimulating Sociality among Older Churchgoers Part II Changes in Aging in Urban Ghana 5 Market-Based Solutions for the Globally Connected Middle Class 6 Going to School to Be a Carer: A New Occupation and the Enchantment of Nursing Education 7 Carers as Househelp: Aging and Social Inequalities in Urban Households Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAfrica is known both for having a primarily youthful population and for its elders being held in high esteem. However, this situation is changing: people in Africa are living longer, some for many years with chronic, disabling illnesses. In Ghana, many older people, rather than experiencing a sense of security that they will be respected and cared for by the younger generations, feel anxious that they will be abandoned and neglected by their kin. In response to their concerns about care, they and their kin are exploring new kinds of support for aging adults, from paid caregivers to social groups and senior day centers. These innovations in care are happening in fits and starts, in episodic and scattered ways, visible in certain circles more than others. By examining emergent discourses and practices of aging in Ghana, Changes in Care makes an innovative argument about the uneven and fragile processes by which some social change occurs. There is a short film that accompanies the book, “Making Happiness: Older People Organize Themselves” (2020), an 11-minute film by Cati Coe. Available at: https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-thke-hp15Trade Review“Combining an innovative set of conceptual tools with meticulous presentation of ethnographic and historical research in both rural and urban contexts, this study makes a compelling contribution to understanding the dynamics of changing elder-care practices in Ghana. Topics covered include the intertwining of kin and non-kin roles in the work of care-giving and the uneasy relations between care-givers and domestic servants in households.” -- Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart * co-authors of Language and Culture in Dialogue *"Cati Coe understands the language of change, care and aging in Africa as well as the diversity of change in the context of the broader globalized world. She critically but sensitively explores these complexities without falling into tired binaries. Change in Africa and its implications for care are approached as complex, quiet and sporadic processes and not simplistically linear as still often proposed by exponents of modernization theory." -- Jaco Hoffman * co-editor of Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-Based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion and Belonging *“Combining an innovative set of conceptual tools with meticulous presentation of ethnographic and historical research in both rural and urban contexts, this study makes a compelling contribution to understanding the dynamics of changing elder-care practices in Ghana. Topics covered include the intertwining of kin and non-kin roles in the work of care-giving and the uneasy relations between care-givers and domestic servants in households.” -- Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart * co-authors of Language and Culture in Dialogue *"Cati Coe understands the language of change, care and aging in Africa as well as the diversity of change in the context of the broader globalized world. She critically but sensitively explores these complexities without falling into tired binaries. Change in Africa and its implications for care are approached as complex, quiet and sporadic processes and not simplistically linear as still often proposed by exponents of modernization theory." -- Jaco Hoffman * co-editor of Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-Based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 The Orthodoxy of Family Care Part I Changes in Aging in the Rural Towns of the Eastern Region 2 Heterodox Ideas of Elder Care: From Nursing Homes to Savings 3 Alterodox Practices of Elder Care: Domestic Service and Neighborliness 4 “Loneliness Kills”: Stimulating Sociality among Older Churchgoers Part II Changes in Aging in Urban Ghana 5 Market-Based Solutions for the Globally Connected Middle Class 6 Going to School to Be a Carer: A New Occupation and the Enchantment of Nursing Education 7 Carers as Househelp: Aging and Social Inequalities in Urban Households Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisGray Love narrates stories about the most common themes – searching for and (perhaps) finding love. Forty-five men and women between ages 60 and 94 from diverse backgrounds talk about dating, starting or ending a relationship, embracing life alone or enjoying a partnered one. The longing for connection as old age encroaches is palpable here, with more and more senior singles searching online. Those who find new partners explore issues that most relationships encounter at any age, as well as some that are unique to elder relationships. These include having had previous partners and a complicated and deep personal history; family and friends’ reactions to an older person’s dating; alternative models to marriage (such as sharing space or living apart); having more than one partner at the same time; one’s aging body, appearance, and sexuality; and the pressure of time and the specter of illness and death.Trade Review"Everything you wanted to know about late-life dating and mating...and then some, from wide-ranging personal accounts." -- Susan Gubar * author of Late-Life Love: A Memoir *"These are fresh, new voices that give dignity, pathos, humor, and warmth to the search for love, or finding love, in the third or fourth quartile of life. This is a book that people of a certain age should read--but also people who will, I hope, reach a certain age--because they should know that love and passion can exist way beyond reproductive years." -- Pepper Schwartz * author of 50 Great Myths of Human Sexuality, andon air-relationship expert, Married at First Sight *"Cupid’s got a lousy sense of humor. We just keep longing for romance and companionship—even in our nineties. Love’s a drive--like thirst and hunger. And this book shows the yearning (and resignation) among older folks with touching delicacy and exquisite sophistication. It’s a treasure." -- Dr. Helen Fisher * Chief Science Advisor to Match.com, author of Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray *"An inspiring collection of personal stories from individuals seeking emotional and physical relationships in their later years. Their honest, insightful, and poignant narratives are a worthwhile addition to age studies." -- Ellyn Lem * author of Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life *"Stories are written from the perspective of 32 women and 13 men [and] contributors range in age from 59 to their 90s. This is not a how-to-date volume but one exploring different viewpoints for consideration...[C]ompanionship never wanes, even with age." * Library Journal, starred review *"These are fresh, new voices that give dignity, pathos, humor, and warmth to the search for love, or finding love, in the third or fourth quartile of life. This is a book that people of a certain age should read--but also people who will, I hope, reach a certain age--because they should know that love and passion can exist way beyond reproductive years." -- Pepper Schwartz * author of 50 Great Myths of Human Sexuality, andon air-relationship expert, Married at First Sight *"Cupid’s got a lousy sense of humor. We just keep longing for romance and companionship—even in our nineties. Love’s a drive--like thirst and hunger. And this book shows the yearning (and resignation) among older folks with touching delicacy and exquisite sophistication. It’s a treasure." -- Dr. Helen Fisher * Chief Science Advisor to Match.com, author of Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage *"Everything you wanted to know about late-life dating and mating...and then some, from wide-ranging personal accounts." -- Susan Gubar * author of Late-Life Love: A Memoir *"An inspiring collection of personal stories from individuals seeking emotional and physical relationships in their later years. Their honest, insightful, and poignant narratives are a worthwhile addition to age studies." -- Ellyn Lem * author of Gray Matters: Finding Meaning in the Stories of Later Life *Table of ContentsIntroduction Prelude Looking at Sixty by Cynthia McVay Part I. To Be or Not To Be In A Relationship: Tales of Humor, Disappointment, Rewards, and Personal Insight 1. Not Jane Eyre’s Story by Susan Ostrov Weisser 2. Discovery through Online Dating Sites: A Woman’s Perspective by Phyllis Carito 3. Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind by Nan Bauer-Maglin 4. Confessions of an Online Dater by Neil Stein 5. Advertisement for Myself by Jonathan Ned Katz 6. What Would I Wear? by Laura Broadwell 7. Something from Everyone by Stephanie M. Brown 8. A (Mostly) Amusing Exercise in Futility by Elizabeth Locke 9. Rick Redux by Candida B. Korman 10. You Say Potato by Amy Rogers 11. Three Dates by Margie Kaplan 12. Dreams and Matches in an Unsure Virtual World by Alice F. Freed 13. In Transition, Not Seeking for Now by Hedva Lewittes 14. “Do You Get It Yet?” by Rett Zabriskie 15. On the Road by Irvin Peckham 16. Dark Clouds and Silver Linings by William Wiesner 17. An Octogenarian’s Adventures in Online Dating by Natasha Josefowitz 18. Coping with COVID-19 by Phyllis Bogen 19. It’s Valentine’s Day. So What! by Erica Manfred 20. What’s Sex Got To Do With It? by Judith Ugelow Blak 21. Gray Love en Noir: African American Women Flying Solo by Choice and by Chance by Linda Wright Moore 22. Passion and Prejudice by Jean Y. Leung Part II. The Complications and Pleasures of Elder Relationships 23. Checking a Different Box by Jan Jacobson 24. Weume by Stephanie Speer and David Levy 25. Begin Again? by Sandi Goldie and Jim Bronson 26. The Wizard of Algo by Vincent Valenti 27. Date, Marry, Repeat by Stacey Parkins Millett 28. Late in the Dating Game: Walked, Homered, Fouled Out by Eugene Roth 29. Matchmaker, Matchmaker! by Isabel Hill 30. A Cozy, Crowded Bed by Nan Bauer-Maglin 31. Our Bench and Other Late Life Wonders by Doris Friedensohn and Paul Lauter 32. Love after Seventy and Eighty by Susan O’Malley 33. Where Is This Going? by Barbara Abercrombie 34. Pleasures and Complications: Living Apart Together by Susan Bickley 35. Parallel Matches by Anonymous 36. Reflections on “Old Love” by Sarah Dunn 37. A Vine of Roses by Mimi Schwartz 38. From Texas to Ohio by Bonnie Fails 39. Till Illness Do Us Part? by Angela Page 40. What Remains Has Just Begun by Tierl Thompson and Idris Walters 41. At Once by Dustin Beall Smith Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors

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Book SynopsisIn our highly interconnected and globalized world, people often pursue their aspirations in multiple places. Yet in public and scholarly debates, aspirations are often seen as the realm of younger, mobile generations, since they are assumed to hold the greatest potential for shaping the future. This volume flips this perspective on its head by exploring how aspirations are constructed from the vantage point of later life, and shows how they are pursued across time, space, and generations. The aspirations of older people are diverse, and relate not only to aging itself but also to planning the next generation’s future, preparing an "ideal" retirement, searching for intimacy and self-realization, and confronting death and afterlives. Aspiring in Later Life brings together rich ethnographic cases from different regions of the world, offering original insights into how aspirations shift over the course of life and how they are pursued in contexts of translocal mobility.This book is also freely available online as an open-access digital edition.​Download the open access book here.Trade Review"A welcome addition to the study of migration and aging, this volume explores ambition, intimacy, and other aspirations as elders envision a good life and craft new vistas in later years. Ethnographically vivid fieldwork draws the reader into the uncertainties and elations of intergenerational households of transmigrants, returnees, and refugees." -- Michele Ruth Gamburd * author of Linked Lives: Elder Care, Migration, and Kinship in Sri Lanka *“This important volume advances the idea that people do have aspirations all through the life course and that we need to know more about their thoughts, choices, and how they dynamically engage with cultural scripts about aging." -- Sherylyn Briller * professor of anthropology at Purdue University *Table of Contents Introduction 1Megha Amrith, Victoria K. Sakti, and Dora Sampaio PA R T IDesire and Self-Realization 1 Growing Old Hand in Hand: Aspirations of Romantic Love in Later Life among Romanian Transmigrants in RomeDumitrița Luncă 2 Letting Go and Looking Ahead: The Aspirations of Middle-Aged Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore and Hong KongMegha Amrith 3 Aspirational Movements: Later-Life Mobility as a Female Resource to Age WellLisa Johnson PA R T I IIntergenerational Negotiations 4 Aspiring to Retire: Intergenerational Care in a Ghanaian Transnational FamilyCati Coe 5 Between Aging Parents There and Young Children Here: The Aspirations of Late-Middle-Aged Peruvian Migrants in Santiago as a Transnational Sandwich GenerationAlfonso Otaegui 6 Whose Aspirations? Intergenerational Expectations and Hopes in Eastern UgandaSusan Reynolds Whyte PA RT I I ILiving in the Present 7 Before It Ends: Aging, Gender, and Migration in a Transnational Mexican CommunityJulia Pauli 8 Disrupted Futures: The Shifting Aspirations of Older Cameroonians Living in DisplacementNele Wolter 9 “Setting Off from the Mountain Pass”: Facing Death and Preparing for the Journey Ahead in Tibetan ExileHarmandeep Kaur Gill AfterwordErdmute Alber Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisIn our highly interconnected and globalized world, people often pursue their aspirations in multiple places. Yet in public and scholarly debates, aspirations are often seen as the realm of younger, mobile generations, since they are assumed to hold the greatest potential for shaping the future. This volume flips this perspective on its head by exploring how aspirations are constructed from the vantage point of later life, and shows how they are pursued across time, space, and generations. The aspirations of older people are diverse, and relate not only to aging itself but also to planning the next generation’s future, preparing an "ideal" retirement, searching for intimacy and self-realization, and confronting death and afterlives. Aspiring in Later Life brings together rich ethnographic cases from different regions of the world, offering original insights into how aspirations shift over the course of life and how they are pursued in contexts of translocal mobility. This book is also freely available online as an open-access digital edition. Download the open access book here.Trade Review"A welcome addition to the study of migration and aging, this volume explores ambition, intimacy, and other aspirations as elders envision a good life and craft new vistas in later years. Ethnographically vivid fieldwork draws the reader into the uncertainties and elations of intergenerational households of transmigrants, returnees, and refugees." — Michele Ruth Gamburd, author of Linked Lives: Elder Care, Migration, and Kinship in Sri Lanka “This important volume advances the idea that people do have aspirations all through the life course and that we need to know more about their thoughts, choices, and how they dynamically engage with cultural scripts about aging." — Sherylyn Briller, professor of anthropology at Purdue UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 Megha Amrith, Victoria K. Sakti, and Dora Sampaio PA R T I Desire and Self-Realization 1 Growing Old Hand in Hand: Aspirations of Romantic Love in Later Life among Romanian Transmigrants in Rome Dumitrița Luncă 2 Letting Go and Looking Ahead: The Aspirations of Middle-Aged Migrant Domestic Workers in Singapore and Hong Kong Megha Amrith 3 Aspirational Movements: Later-Life Mobility as a Female Resource to Age Well Lisa Johnson PA R T I I Intergenerational Negotiations 4 Aspiring to Retire: Intergenerational Care in a Ghanaian Transnational Family Cati Coe 5 Between Aging Parents There and Young Children Here: The Aspirations of Late-Middle-Aged Peruvian Migrants in Santiago as a Transnational Sandwich Generation Alfonso Otaegui 6 Whose Aspirations? Intergenerational Expectations and Hopes in Eastern Uganda Susan Reynolds Whyte PA RT I I I Living in the Present 7 Before It Ends: Aging, Gender, and Migration in a Transnational Mexican Community Julia Pauli 8 Disrupted Futures: The Shifting Aspirations of Older Cameroonians Living in Displacement Nele Wolter 9 “Setting Off from the Mountain Pass”: Facing Death and Preparing for the Journey Ahead in Tibetan Exile Harmandeep Kaur Gill Afterword Erdmute Alber Acknowledgments Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisHow do digital technologies shape both how people care for each other and, through that, who they are? With technological innovation is on the rise and increasing migration introducing vast distances between family members--a situation additionally complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the requirements of physical distancing, especially for the most vulnerable – older adults--this is a pertinent question. Through ethnographic fieldwork among families of migrating nurses from Kerala, India, Tanja Ahlin explores how digital technologies shape elder care when adult children and their aging parents live far apart. Coming from a country in which appropriate elder care is closely associated with co-residence, these families tinker with smartphones and social media to establish how care at a distance can and should be done to be considered good. Through the notion of transnational care collectives, Calling Family uncovers the subtle workings of digital technologies on care across countries and continents when being physically together is not feasible. Calling Family provides a better understanding of technological relationality that can only be expected to further intensify in the future.Trade Review"Caring is commonly an exercise in sensitive listening and empathic understanding, with particular attention to all that is not said. This book shows how a scholar can manifest care through their research, and thereby appreciate how carers enact care in their daily lives and their creative deployment of digital technologies in facilitating transnational care." -- Daniel Miller * coeditor of The Global Smartphone: Beyond a Youth Technology *"Calling Family innovatively combines the STS theoretical lens with anthropological sensitivity for social context. Through heartfelt storytelling, the reader is transported from the gardens of Kerala to the deserts of Oman, or takes a car ride across London via webcam. The author teases out the intricate influences of technologies on care and highlights the role of affect for transnational care collectives – the global assemblages of people and digital technologies through which families care at a distance." -- Loretta Baldassar * coauthor of Families Caring Across Borders: Migrating, Ageing and Transnational Caregiving *"Written with great empathy, Calling Family is an extremely timely and original book that explores how everyday digital technologies have become essential for caring relations across distance and how eldercare within such transnational care collectives is transformed." -- Monika Palmberger * coeditor of Care across Distance: Ethnographic Explorations of Aging and Migration *Table of Contents Foreword LENORE MANDERSON PART I: MAPPING LANDSCAPES 1 Enacting Care 2 Crafting the Field 3 Struggling with Abandonment PART II: CARING THROUGH TRANSNATIONAL COLLECTIVES 4 Calling Frequently 5 Shifting Duties 6 Doing Health Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendix: Note on Methodology Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisAgeing Europe, social policy on older people, deinstitutionalization the social services, social farming

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