'We Take Care of Our Own': A Theological Ethnographic Exploration of the Experience of Caregiving in the Context of Dementia Across Two Cultures

土著社区和散居社区对痴呆症护理的核心问题--爱和亲属关系--的观点如何加深对痴呆症护理的神学理解和做法？这对全球基督教社区和更广泛的社会有什么神学和实践上的影响？虽然关于痴呆症的大部分研究都集中在寻找治愈方法上，但没有成功，但迫切需要的是理解和支持对痴呆症患者的护理。已经就如何动员宗教团体以利用它们所代表的精神和社会资本的来源进行了研究。然而，这项工作的绝大部分都是在西方背景下完成的，使用了西方关于痴呆症、人格、护理以及适当的实际神学反应的假设。到目前为止，还没有跨文化的工作来探索痴呆症是如何在实践上和神学上跨文化地孕育和应对的。某些土著和少数族裔文化对照顾痴呆症患者有独特的做法，并通过他们自己的神学和灵性视角对痴呆症和痴呆症护理有独特的理解。这项研究旨在为这些沉默的声音提供一个平台，以便他们能够告知、批评和装备大多数西方照顾痴呆者的方法。在这项研究中，约翰·斯温顿教授建议与巴拿马的土著社区Gunadule人和英国的散居社区非洲加勒比人一起工作。作为非洲加勒比社区的一员，斯温顿教授将在英国开展这项研究。古纳杜勒的一名土著研究人员将对这个社区进行研究。这两个群体的世界观都与欧洲的个人主义形成了鲜明对比。他们以不同的方式接触其他人，如祖母和祖父，叔叔和阿姨，兄弟和姐妹。他们有一种共同的亲切感，在这种感觉中，我们照顾自己的人。每个群体也都有受压迫和被沉默的历史，影响到他们如何照顾和与关怀机构建立联系。他们每个人都通过独特的基督教信仰和实践来解释这些经历。倾听这样的观点将为全球实践神学对话增添一个重要而缺失的维度。在审视这些实践和观点时，这项研究将询问世界各地的教会作为精神资本的重要来源，以及为痴呆症患者及其照顾者和支持者提供关怀和支持的重要提供者，可以从理解和实施这两个土著和散居群体提供的不同关怀视角中学到什么。斯温顿是国际公认的痴呆症、心理健康和神学研究人员，在定性研究方法方面拥有专业知识。他在2020年出版的《在风暴中寻找耶稣：生活在精神健康挑战中的基督徒的精神生活》一书，基于一个创新的、广泛的定性研究项目的发现，获得了奥尔德斯盖特学术研究奖，该奖项挑战了学术界的简约主义趋势，并活跃了人类的繁荣。他也是《痴呆症：活在上帝的记忆中》(2012)一书的作者，该书获得了坎特伯雷大主教的拉姆齐神学卓越奖。斯温顿是实践神学领域的领军人物，也是神学民族志方法的先驱。他与哈里特·莫瓦特合著的《实用神学与定性研究》(第二版，2016)在欧洲、美国、澳大利亚、新西兰等地被广泛用作教科书。这个关于照料和痴呆症的项目将以他的专业知识为基础，扩大他在神学和痴呆症研究领域的领导地位，以包括各种形式的实用神学，突出土著和散居社区的声音和榜样。

How can the perspectives of an indigenous community and a diaspora community on the core issues of dementia care-love and kinship-deepen theological understandings and practices of dementia care? What are the theological and practical implications of this for Christian communities globally and societies more generally? While much of the research on dementia has focused on finding a cure, with no success, the pressing need is to understand and support care for those with dementia. Research has been done on the ways in which religious communities can be mobilised to utilise the sources of spiritual and social capital that they represent. However, the vast majority of this work has been done in a Western context, using Western assumptions about dementia, personhood, care, and what an appropriate practical theological response might be. To date there has been no intercultural work done exploring the ways in which dementia is conceived and responded to practically and theologically across cultures. Certain indigenous and minority ethnic cultures have distinctive practices surrounding care for those with dementia and distinctive understandings of dementia and dementia care through their own lens of theology and spirituality. This study intends to provide a platform for these silenced voices so that they can inform, critique, and equip majority Western approaches to caring for those with dementia.In this study, Prof. John Swinton proposes to work alongside an indigenous community, Gunadule people in Panama, and a diaspora community, Afro-Caribbean people in the United Kingdom. As a member of the Afro-Caribbean community, Prof. Swinton will carry out the research in the UK. A Gunadule indigenous researcher will research that community.Both of these groups have a worldview that contrasts with European individualism. In distinct ways, they encounter other human beings as grandmothers and grandfathers, uncles and aunts, brothers and sister. They have in common a sense of kinship within which 'we take care of our own'. Each group also has a history of oppression and being silenced, affecting how they care and relate to caring agencies. They each interpret these experiences through unique forms of Christian faith and practice. Listening to such perspectives will add a vital and missing dimension to the global practical theology conversation.In examining these practices and perspectives, the study will ask what the worldwide church as a significant source of spiritual capital, and a significant provider of care and support for people with dementia and their carers and supporters, can learn from understanding and implementing the different care perspectives offered by these two indigenous and diaspora groups.Prof. Swinton is an internationally recognised researcher in dementia, mental health, and theology, with expertise in qualitative research methods. His 2020 book Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians Living with Mental Health Challenges, based on the findings of an innovative, extensive qualitative research project, has received the Aldersgate Prize for scholarly inquiry that challenges reductionistic trends in academia and enlivens human flourishing. He is also author of Dementia: Living in the Memories of God (2012) which received the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ramsey Prize for Theological Excellence. Swinton is a leader in the field of Practical Theology and a pioneer in the method of Theological Ethnography. His book Practical Theology and Qualitative Research co-authored with Harriet Mowat (2nd ed., 2016) is widely used as a textbook in Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. This project on caregiving and dementia will build upon his expertise and expand his leadership in the fields of theology and the study of dementia to include forms of practical theology that highlight the voices and examples of indigenous and diaspora communities.