From February 23rd to 24th 2017, the Workshop “Ageing and Residence“ by Prof. William S. Sax (Head of the Department of Ethnology, South Asia Institute)  of the exchange project on „Active Ageing“ took place at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.  The two-days event started with a lecture by Prof. Sax who adressed the difficulties of conducting ethnographic research in an old age home in general focussing than on the range of forms of elder care arrangements in India (public, private and caste-based) and the problems and potentials of such institutions for facilitating “Active Ageing“. Prof. Surinder Jodhka (Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences) presented his research on social inequalities in India and its extensive implications for the elderly as they result in very different forms of ageing determined by caste, class, poverty, gender and religion amongst others. Prof. Mohan Rao (Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, School of Social Sciences) directed in his presentation to the double burden of disease in India meaning that communicable as well as non-communicable diseases are prevalent besides other deficiences in the area of health such as for example malnutrition, high maternal-, infant- and child mortality rates. The lecture series was followed by an excursion to a governmental Old Age Home in Bindapur including a guided tour through the institution as well as interactions with inhabitants. The Workshop closed at the Jawaharlal Nehru University  with a screening of the Indian film “Water“ by Deepa Mehta, which describes the lives of widows in an Ashram in Varanasi in 1938, and a final discussion.     

Here you can download the program of the Workshop (Pdf).