142224 UE Aging and Old Age: The South Asian Perspectives (2024W)

In addition to the biological, chronological, and medical aspects of ageing, this experience also encompasses its social and cultural dimensions. These dimensions reveal not only the state and situation of older people and the process of ageing in a given time and place, but they also highlight the socio-cultural norms, behavioural patterns, value systems, and indeed the entire worldview towards human life.

South Asia, like many countries in the East, is known to be a region with an elderly-friendly environment, albeit with a certain degree of positive ageism. However, South Asia is a multifarious universe that cautions us against homogenising its countries and people in respect of their outlook towards old age and older people. Is the general perception of ageing also true for women and transgender individuals in the closing phase of their lives? Are there regional, country-specific, or religion-based variations regarding this issue?

With such questions in mind, we will study the experience of growing old and the ways in which society views individuals in that process. In doing so, we will adopt both historical and comparative methods, substantiated by demographic and statistical data, as well as underpinned by scholarly literature and theoretical discussions.

The course will be interdisciplinary in nature, drawing on gerontology, sociology, gender studies, law, media, film, literature, medical sociology, disability studies, and sociolinguistics. While biological and medical aspects of the topic will not form part of the discussion, issues pertaining to medical sociology—such as healthcare and social health security—will be examined. Similarly, while the psychology of old age will not be discussed in detail, we may draw insights from social psychology to highlight certain points.

Some of the themes likely to be discussed include the following:

1. General Introduction & Demographic/Statistical Data

2. Status and Role of Older People in Traditional Set-ups

3. Family Context:

Extended Family Systems and Older People

Urbanisation, Nuclear Family Systems, and Older People

4. Inter-generational Relations

5. Body Image/Self-Perception of Older People

6. Feminisation of Old Age (In addition to the overall situation of older women, the issue of widowhood will also be addressed.)

7. Social Healthcare for Older People:

Public Sector

Private Sector

8. Financial Matters: Retirement, Pensions, and Other Sources

9. Lone Older People: Loss of Spouse/Bereavement/Re-marriage Options

10. Old Age and Disability

11. Adult Education

12. Social Perception/General Attitude towards Older People

13. Representation of Old Age in Film and Literature

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