Transitions and Transformations

Caitrin Lynch is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and Visiting Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University.

• PART I: FRAMEWORKSIntroduction: Transitions and Transformations: Paradigms, Perspectives, and PossibilitiesJason Danely and Caitrin LynchChapter 1. Changes in the Life Course: Strengths and StagesMary Catherine BatesonPART II: BODIESChapter 2. Narrating Pain and Seeking Continuity: A Life-Course Approach to Chronic Pain ManagementLindsey Martin  Chapter 3. Venting Anger From the Body During Gengnianqi: Meanings of Midlife Transition Among Chinese Women in Reform-Era BeijingJeanne L. SheaChapter 4. “I Don’t Want to Be Like My Father:” Masculinity, Modernity, and Intergenerational Relationships in MexicoEmily WentzellPART III: SPATIALITY AND TEMPORALITYChapter 5. Shifting Moral Ideals of Aging in Poland: Suffering, Self-Actualization, and the NationJessica C. RobbinsChapter 6. A Window into Death: Euthanasia and End-of-Life in the Public-Private Space of the Dutch HomeFrances NorwoodChapter 7. Temporality, Spirituality, and the Life Course in an Aging JapanJason DanelyPART IV: FAMILIESChapter 8. “I Have to Stay Healthy:” Elder Caregiving and the Third Age in a Brazilian CommunityDiana De G. BrownChapter 9. Grandmothering in Life-Course Perspective:  A Study of Puerto Rican Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren in the United StatesMarta B. Rodríguez-GalánChapter 10. Care Work and Property Transfers: Intergenerational Family Obligations in Sri LankaMichele Ruth GamburdPART V: ECONOMIESChapter 11. Personhood, Appropriate Dependence, and the Rise of Eldercare Institutions in IndiaSarah LambChapter 12. Membership and Mattering: Agency and Work in a New England FactoryCaitrin LynchChapter 13. Life Courses of Indebtedness in Rural NigeriaJane I. Guyer and Kabiru K. Salami Afterword: On Generations and Aging: “Fresh Contact” of a Different SortJennifer ColeContributors’ BiosBibliography

“This volume is full of good writing, lively situations, some wonderful photos, revealing quotes and simulating ideas. Its readability makes it appealing as a text to be used widely in the undergraduate/graduate classroom… the current volume makes for excellent reading and launches the new Berghahn book series admirably.”  ·  Anthropology of Aging Quarterly Review“…an important contribution to the field...excellent chapters within a comprehensive anthropological framework that touches on an increasingly important global demographic trend. The book counters the universalizing tendency of some disciplines to model aging after Western lifestyles.”  ·  Philip B. Stafford, University of Indiana“This is a well-crafted volume and an important addition to the literature on aging and the life course.  It provides an invaluable cross-cultural perspective that emphasizes how the life course is framed within a cultural context and how cultures change over time. The chapters focus on a large number of ethnographic cases and are organized well for use by students or professionals wanting an updated overview.”  ·  Dena Shenk, University of North Carolina Charlotte“This volume is a welcome addition to [the literature], particularly because it speaks to concerns in the cross-cultural study of aging and in anthropology.  It was a pleasure to read.”  ·  Peter Collings, University of Florida