Doctoral Dissertation Research: Aging, Kinship, and Social Transformation

人口老龄化是一个日益重要的全球问题。尽管如此，在低收入国家，对于变老意味着什么，人们的认识存在严重差距。在低收入国家，发展中经济体和多重压力因素可能会使以前被接受的老龄化模式复杂化。这些学术上的空白是有问题的。它们可能导致对老年男女生活的过于简单化的理解、对稀缺资源的误导以及对地方能力的破坏而不是加强。为了解决这些问题，耶鲁大学博士生Aalyia Sadruddin在凯瑟琳·潘特-布里克博士的指导下，将在一个特别揭示低收入状况的背景下进行研究：冲突后的卢旺达。在卢旺达，如同在其他冲突后局势中一样，人口中年龄最大的部分必须照顾最小的儿童，即冲突受害者留下的儿童。此外，预计最古老的部分将在冲突后和解努力中发挥带头作用，同时还将承受政府经济支助减少的影响。这一系列因素造成的额外压力使卢旺达案件特别暴露了老龄化所面临的问题、老龄化所带来的力量以及其复原力的局限性。在卢旺达学到的经验教训将适用于包括美国在内的世界各地。研究人员将采用混合方法和比较城乡设计。在精心选择的两个地点，一个是农村，一个是城市，她将使用各种社会科学研究方法收集数据，包括：参与者观察、半结构化访谈、家谱访谈、文本话语和媒体分析。这项研究的发现将拓宽对老龄化、家庭关系和社会变化之间关系的洞察。这些结论将推动关于老龄化的社会科学理论，并有助于解决发展中国家关于适当护理、亲属关系的作用和社会复原力能力的争论。

Population aging is an issue of rising global importance. Despite this, there are critical gaps in knowledge about what it means to grow old in low-income countries, where developing economies and multiple stressors can complicate formerly accepted models of aging. These lacunae in scholarship are problematic. They can result in overly simplistic understandings of older men and women's lives, the misdirection of scarce resources, and the undermining rather than reinforcing of local capacities. To address these problems, Yale University doctoral student, Aalyia Sadruddin, under the supervision of Dr. Catherine Panter-Brick, will undertake research in a particularly revealing lower-income context: post-conflict Rwanda. In Rwanda, as in other post-conflict situations, the oldest segments of the population must provide care for the youngest, the children that victims of the conflict left behind. In addition, the oldest segments are expected to lead the way in post-conflict reconciliation efforts while also bearing the effects of reduced government economic support. The additional levels of stress caused by this constellation of factors make the Rwandan case particularly revealing of the problems that the aging face, the strengths they bring to bear, and the limitations of their resilience. Lessons learned in Rwanda will be applicable throughout the world, including the United States.The researcher will employ a mixed-methods approach and a comparative rural/urban design. In two carefully chosen sites, one rural and one urban, she will gather data using a variety of social scientific research methods, including: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, genealogical interviews, and textual discourse and media analysis. Findings from this research will broaden insights into the relationship between aging, family relations, and social change. Conclusions will advance social science theory of aging and help resolve debates on appropriate care, the role of kinship, and the capacity for social resilience in the developing world.