Dear all,

As part of my Anthropology of Japan course at the University of Colorado Boulder, you are invited to zoom in for a public lecture by Dr. Jason Danely on April 5. Please register in advance. 

Best,

Kate

Public lecture: Wed, Apr 5  
11:15am-12:05pm MT, on Zoom 
Register in advance: https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAsdOuqrT8vG9UtgZHIb9V00pFmuBslyTrt 

 

Precarity and placelessness in Japan's superaged society
Dr. Jason Danely, Reader in Anthropology, Oxford Brookes University 

  

With a shrinking population, older people in Japan are increasingly living their last years alone and impoverished. The social welfare system, once a global model of cost-effective universal care, is no longer able to provide adequate support, and family members, struggle to cope. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Japan was praised for its relatively low nursing home fatality rates, but at the same time, cases of elder abuse by family members climbed to its highest rates since records began. Older people who are isolated, estranged from, or experiencing conflict with family members are also increasingly committing crimes. The proportion of incarcerated individuals over 60 in Japan is growing, and the majority are repeat offenders. Others become isolated in their homes, eventually dying alone and unnoticed. Across these various trajectories, older people have lost a sense of place, or home. In this talk, I discuss ethnographic research with carers, formerly incarcerated individuals, and community volunteers to draw together themes of loneliness, aging, and what Anne Allison has called 'ordinary refugeeism,' or the lack of a place of belonging. We will discuss what this situation means for Japan in the present, and what some people are doing to make things better. 

 

For further information, email: kathryn.goldfarb@colorado.edu 

This event is free and open to the public 

Supported by the Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado Boulder 

--
Kathryn E. Goldfarb
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
University of Colorado at Boulder
1350 Pleasant St.
Boulder, CO 80309
Hale Science 350 | Campus Box 233 UCB
Office: Hale Science 466
Office phone: 303.492.1589
kathryn.goldfarb@colorado.edu