Submitted to the Facu1ty of Arts in fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
the department of Anthropology and Development Studies
at the University of Zululand, 1982. / Old age is a neglected area of anthropological research
despite the widespread interest in the human life cycle that
has characterized much work within the discipline.- With
the notable exception of the early pioneering work of
Simmons, the anthropological literature on old age in
preliterate cultures is sparse, with little attention having
been devoted either to the collection of ethnographic data
or to the formulation of gerontological theory. As Clerk
observes: 'If one is to judge from typical anthropological
accounts, the span of years between the achievement of adult
status and one's funerary rites is either an ethnographic
vacuum or a vast monotonous plateau of invariable behavior.
Maxwell & Silverman hold the same opinion: 'Anthropologists
have not, on the whole, shown much interest in ageing. With
few exceptions, ethnographic reports seem to mention the.
aged only in passing, if at all, and then only in the context
of quite general statements. One of the reasons to which
they attribute this neglect is the distaste with which old
age is viewed in our culture. The aged tend to suffer
from physical or mental disabilities which are unpleasant to
contemplate; death is imminent; and the role of the aged in
culture is ostensibly less distinctive than that of younger
men and women.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/462 |
| Date | January 1982 |
| Creators | Brindley, Marianne |
| Contributors | de Clercq, J.L.W. |
| Publisher | University of Zululand |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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