Old age in Africa - Research Seminar

Prof. Sjaak van der Geest is a cultural anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam. He has done fieldwork in Ghana and Cameroon. His main research interest is medical anthropology, in particular the social and cultural context of medicines and the meaning of old age. Other research topics include ideas and practices concerning fertility, the social meaning of popular song texts, the fieldwork experience, and cultural perceptions.

Caroline van Dullemen is a psycho-sociologist who has written extensively about South Africa and the anti-apartheid movement, Her most recent book is entitled ‘Altijd de sterkste thuis, opgroeien met een zieke ouder. She has worked for the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Wetenschappelijk Bureau van GroenLinks, and is currently the director of WorldGranny, an organization that works for and with old people in developing countries.

Respect, reciprocity, nostalgia, irony: About grandparents and grandchildren in Ghana

Sjaak van der Geest

The four terms in the main title of this presentation are in fact its summary. Respect because it constitutes the essence of the moral relationship between the younger and older generations in Ghana and – maybe – the whole of Africa. Reciprocity because it is the social source of respect. Respect is earned in life and it is what one is paid back towards the end of one’s life. Loss of respect, for that matter, also finds its origin in (negative) ‘reciprocity’, a useless life. Nostalgia because “everything was better in the past” and African-old-people-watchers from Europe tend to romanticize the conditions of the African elderly and cherish them as reminiscences of their own past. Irony because the ‘good things’ of old age in Africa are due to circumstances and developments that we regard as utterly undesirable for ourselves. This presentation is based on anthropological fieldwork carried out intermittently between 1994 and the present in a rural town in Ghana.

The elderly in Africa, a new engine for development?
Caroline van Dullemen
We in the West tend to have romantic views of ageing in developing countries, where supposedly grandpas and grandmas are respected for their contribution to society and for their wisdom. In our fantasies we see seniors in Mali surrounded by their happy grandchildren who are begging for another story. The reality is often very different. One in five of the poorest people of the world – those living on less than a dollar a day – are over 60 years of age. While their grown-up children leave for the cities, for Europe or to join the army, they are left by themselves to fetch their own water and firewood that are essential for daily survival. In addition, the HIV/AIDS pandemic is resulting in a profound change in the position of older people. Having taken care of their dying sons and daughters, many grandparents are the left with emotional and financial burdens that often include the task of bringing up their grandchildren.

The international community, as a follow-up to the UN Summit on Ageing & Development (Madrid 2002), is becoming aware that achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 will require greater financial commitments and new approaches. The government of Tanzania is including the elderly in a review of its Poverty Reduction Strategy, while in Ghana the government has developed a National Programme on Ageing. There is an urgent need for a change in attitude towards the elderly, who should not be perceived as a burden on society but as key players in the productive and reproductive field.