Working Paper 129

Title
Ageing and Taking Care of the Elderly in Contemporary Daiden (Northeast Papua New Guinea)

Author
Anita von Poser

Department
Department ‘Integration and Conflict’

Year of publication
2011

Number of pages
23

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Working Paper 129

Abstract
This paper investigates changing notions of ageing and the social situation of elderly people in Daiden, a Bosmun place located at the Lower Ramu River in Northeast Papua New Guinea. It is argued that 'new ideologies of age' are currently transforming local ideas about the social, psychological, and physical alterations commonly called 'ageing' in the gerontological discourse. These ideologies will be variously addressed as 'chronological age', 'bio-medical age', and 'psychological age'. By exploring changing understandings of elderhood and elderly care, I show that a rather positive perception of ageing, as based on emic or so-called 'traditional' worldviews, turns into a rather negative perception, as a result of adhering to new 'Western'-based explanations. Finally, I argue that these new ideologies of age influence local politics of age, eventually leading to a shift in the exercise of power.