The proliferation of old age homes and increasing numbers of elderly living alone are startling new phenomena in India. These trends are related to extensive overseas migration and the transnational dispersal of families. In this moving and insightful account, Sarah Lamb shows that older persons are innovative agents in the processes of social-cultural change. Lamb's study probes debates and cultural assumptions in both India and the United States regarding how best to age; the proper social-moral relationship among individuals, genders, families, the market, and the state; and ways of finding meaning in the human life course.

In historic and ethnographic accounts of Indians living in diaspora, the elderly seem to receive much less attention than the new generation and its progress, prosperity and success. Using critical pedagogy approach, this book attempts to close that gap by focusing on the voices of the Punjabi, Bengali, Sindhi, and Gujarati diasporic Indians elderly, living in five countries.

This book discusses the intersections between culture, context, and aging. It adopts a socio-cultural lens and highlights emotional, social, and psychological issues of the older adults in urban India. It is set in multiple sites such as Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, and Saskatoon to indicate how different cultural practices and contextual factors play an integral role in determining the course of aging. It also focuses on different narratives such as older adults living with adult children, older adults living with spouse, and older adults living alone to demonstrate the intricate process of growing old. Drawing from various sites and living arrangements of older adults, it sheds light on cultural constructions of growing old, ideas of belonging, the inevitability of death, everyday processes of aging, perceptions associated with growing old in India, acceptance of the aging body, and intergenerational ties in later lives. Given its scope, the book is essential reading for students and researchers in the fields of sociology, demography, and social scientists studying aging.

This book celebrates both the past and present existence of the Indian diasporic grandparents who live their daily lives in different countries – the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Fiji, Mauritius, Australia, Suriname and Malaysia – and in different economic, social, cultural, religious contexts and specific household and family situations. The achievements of the few rich and the famous Indians living in diaspora have been given the celebratory treatment; similar status is not often given to the achievements of the diasporic Indian grandparents. However, “the vanquished and the victors, the subalterns and the sahibs, have equal claims on our attention ... clearly there are areas where Indian communities have been settled for long periods of time ... without having a significant effect on the countries of their residence ... [but] they, too are integral parts of the diaspora” (Brij Lal, Peter Reeves & Rajesh Rai, 2006, p. 15). This book is about voices of contemporary Indian grandparents and their grand parenting practices. The diasporic Indian grandparents are engaged in keeping diverse “Indian families” and “communities” as strong as possible in the current era of globalization process and social policy initiatives that are dominated by the ideology of neo-liberalism. This book claims that the diasporic Indian grandparents have significant effects on the countries of their residence and too are integral parts of the Indian diaspora who deserve the celebratory treatment and status. The book can be used for courses in the areas of critical social work, family studies, gerontology, nursing, rural development, critical pedagogy, and diaspora studies. “A veritable archive of stories, anecdotes, memories and reminiscences, of love, longing and search for a legacy, by diasporic Indian grandparents across the globe as they transgress boundaries in a socially porous world, negotiate generational differences complicated by the realities of modern living, cross cultures and seek to preserve connections between the past, the present and the future. A necessary contribution to the growing literature in the life of the Indian diaspora.” Brij V. Lal Professor of Pacific and Asian History, The Australian National University & General Editor, Encyclopedia of the Indian Diaspora

Explore Indian policy and practice on aging from a variety of perspectives! This pathbreaking collection provides something that has been missing in the literature on aging in India, especially for non-Indian audiences: studies of various aspects of aging in India combined with analyses of current policies, policy trends and recommendations. You'll examine aging issues from a variety of perspectives—demographic foundations, social and family relations, economics, health and disability, current interventions, and advocacy and policy. An Aging India also provides you with up-to-date references, explanations of differences and similarities within India's diverse population, examples of programs in various settings including a geriatric hospital, a major NGO, and old-age homes, and an overview of the development of India's national policy on aging. Where appropriate, comparisons with U.S. policy approaches are noted. An Aging India: Perspectives, Prospects, and Policies examines: the demography of aging in India the current state of research on aging, and the pitfalls associated with that research income, poverty, and the problems created by the lack of any widespread retirement income system in India the health status of Indian elders and what their healthcare prospects are the situation for the disabled elderly in India elder abuse in the Indian context social networks and grassroots organizations for seniors in India the role of Indian geriatric hospitals and old-age homes The insights of the top researchers and practitioners who contributed to An Aging India: Perspectives, Prospects, and Policies will strike home with their counterparts around the world. Make this book a part of your professional/teaching collection today!

Global Indian Diasporas discusses the relationship between South Asian emigrants and their homeland, the reproduction of Indian culture abroad, and the role of the Indian state in reconnecting emigrants to India. Focusing on the limits of the diaspora concept, rather than its possibilities, this volume presents new historical and anthropological research on South Asian emigrants worldwide. From a comparative perspective, examples of South Asian emigrants in Suriname, Mauritius, East Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom are deployed in order to show that in each of these regions there are South Asian emigrants who do not fit into the Indian diaspora concept—raising questions about the effectiveness of the diaspora as an academic and sociological index, and presenting new and controversial insights in diaspora issues.

This Volume Takes Up Crucial Problems Faced By The Old, Suggests Ways To Address Them And Discusses The Future Scenario By Viewing Ageing And The Aged In The Context Of Increasing Modernisation. The Papers Deal With Intergenerational Problems Of The Old, The Environment S Effect On Them And Their Nutritional Status And Health Problems.