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，人们对变老意味着什么的认识存在重大差距，发展中经济体和多种压力因素可能使以前接受的老龄化模型复杂化。 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理解过于简单化，导致稀缺资源的错误使用，并削弱而不是加强地方能力。为了解决这些问题，耶鲁大学博士生Aalyia Sadruddin在Catherine Panter-Brick博士的监督下，将在一个特别具有启发性的低收入背景下进行研究：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年龄最小的部分，即冲突受害者留下的儿童。此外，最老的阶层预计将在冲突后和解努力中发挥带头作用，同时也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的情况特别揭示了老年人面临的问题，他们带来的力量，以及他们复原力的局限性。卢旺达的经验教训将适用于世界各地，包括美国。研究人员将采用混合方法的方法和比较农村/城市设计。 在两个精心选择的地点，一个农村和一个城市，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。这项研究的结果将拓宽对老龄化、家庭关系和社会变化之间关系的认识。结论将推进老龄化的社会科学理论，并帮助解决有关适当护理，亲属关系的作用和发展中国家社会复原力的能力的争论。

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.