Final Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is so special about Old-Age in the Cuiva Indian from Colombia?
Old age is Special in Cuiva, because it doesn’t exist! They see life as circular (reincarnation), where no one really dies. They have infants, youth, and adults, but no one ever stops being useful to society. The oldest adults are the guardians of wisdom and memory, and then their souls are reborn in the infants.
Explain how do Cuiva Indians treat their elders.
- Elderly are never “too old” to be part of group activities. They are intentionally included in society
- Reincarnation, so all souls are valued, including elders
- Elderly respected are the best healers and sorcerers - they have their own unique gifts that help them contribute to society!
How can we explain the disappearance of respect for elders in Industrialized Societies?
In societies that value oral teaching traditions, elders are revered for their wisdom. Industrialized societies have an inverted model where youth holds a higher value Because they are more able to contribute to the work force. There are three classes of age in industrialized societies.
1st Age: Childhood, you are integrated into the workforce
Second age: Adulthood, you are in the workforce
Third age: Old age, you are “retired”, excluded from the workforce
Elders cannot work, so they are not useful, so they are not respected.
Why is retirement usually a bad experience?
Retirement is usually a bad experience because there is no rite of passage - Your status just suddenly changes from useful to not useful, within community to excluded from it and thrown into nursing home. You’re out of a job and you have to rely on people you don’t know. There is a stronger sense of isolation and idleness, both physically and mentally (retirement and nursing homes) which leads to mental and physical decline
Explain the idea of de-chronologization of the life course?
The rise in plastic surgery is causing age to lose meaning, since people just “turn back the clock” in response to various life events. This is an act of “extending” their youthfulness, which kind of takes away time’s ability to affect the body, and gives a sense of increased options for those at an advanced age. 50 year old will continue to date, life becomes less defined by domestic labour, women postpone motherhood. People remain super social, and stay young for their psychological health.
Is plastic surgery in Brazil a good example of the de-chronologization of the life
Course?
Yes. Plastic surgery in Brazil is seen not only as a way of decreasing the looks of ageing and childbirth, but it is also seen as a way to prevent age from ever showing up. It is common knowledge that “age is limiting and undesirable”, and women use it to erase effects of childbirth and motherhood, 50 year old women will be seen in dating relationships, and the elderly remain just as social as their younger counterparts because they believe they have enhanced their “auto-estima” (self-esteem) by reversing their age.
Why is the example of the women from Nanao interesting with regards to the struggle of the devaluation of elders in Industrialized Societies?
This case is interesting because the Nanao women are essentially fighting back against elder devaluation by using bridal Noren to teach the younger generation about their family history and culture. By doing this, they are reinserting themselves into society and deeming themselves “useful”. This is help fun towards their “ikigai”, or sense of wellbeing, which was suffering when they felt they were being devalued.
Describe the different conceptions of death
- Cuiva Indians and Buddhism: Death is a cycle, nothing is gone forever, things and people are reborn
- Catholic + Aztec beliefs: Mexico, Feast of the Dead. Spirits move to another world, but there are days when they can cross over and we can interact with them
- Ancestral cult in Asia: We worship our ancestors, who look over us and can grant us blessing from the spiritual realm
- Industrialized society: Death is a biological END: It is not something we embrace, but work to avoid at all costs.
What progressively turned death almost invisible or disturbing in industrialized Societies?
Super medicalization, which lead to the belief that we can stop death! If death does occur, it is a failure on our part, so we don’t speak of it! Medical world can give no MEANING to death, so there is no preparation for it. It is separated from life, whereas in other cultures it is seen as a part of life.
What are the consequences and possible issues coming with the medicalization of death?
When death is seen as simply a failure on behalf of the medical world, it cannot give any further meaning to death due to the lack of symbolic rites of passage.This begins to bleed into our ability to give life itself meaning. Those who are dying do not get the chance to prepare for and accept death. They are kept alive even if they are suffering greatly, and they are isolated from society in hospitals. The entire burden of dealing with death is left to the dying, as well as the nursing staff who have to interact with the dying.
How can we explain the appearance of the movement Dying With Dignity?
The dying with dignity movement appears to a be a response to the taboo culture that has appeared around death in industrial societies. This movement appears to be a resistance to the prolonged pain of those who are dying through medicalization, the attempt to make death an open conversation, and an attempt to bring people into a space of planning for their own death and being their for their loved ones who may be dying.
For whom are funeral rites are performed?
Funeral rites are performed for the dead and the living alike.
For the dead: So that they may pass from the world of the living to the world of the dead.
So that they can come to terms with the death of the person, and give meaning to the life to the person.
What are the different functions of funeral rites?
- They separate the dead from the living - in the whole separation, margin, aggregation, the mourning is in the margin
- They allow the living to join the dead in their journey, and celebrate their life
- They allow the dead to enter the world of the dead
Why are the dead sometimes accompanied by objects, goods, or even living persons?
These objects are meant to join them in the land of the dead. Coins may be used to pay their way in, a favourite object will keep them company, and a wife or slave might serve them while they are in the land of the dead
What are the recent evolutions of funeral rites?
- Normalization of cremation: we don’t want to take up space
- Personalization of funeral rites: We want to remain relevant
- Tendencies to find alternatives from cemeteries: Mixture of the two.
