Defining "Old Age". Markers of old age in sub-Saharan Africa and the implications for cross-cultural research.

Abstract

While ageing is an inevitable and irreversible biological process, both the onset and the meaning of old age are culturally constructed. The yardsticks people employ to determine who is, or is not, old can differ widely from culture to culture, if not from situation to situation. In a fundamental sense, old age is not a property of individuals but a social construction. Most sociological descriptions of old age and ageing in Africa have nevertheless simply employed a chronometric framework, derived from Western gerontology. As a rule, gerontological studies conducted in Africa have chosen age 50 (e.g. Cattell 1989), 55 (e.g. Togonu-Bickersteth 1986), 60 (e.g. Peil 1985) or 65 (e.g. Mugabe 1994) as marking the start of later life. The most commonly chosen age limit has been 60 years, a choice which has its origins in the respective definition of the United Nations and the First World Assembly on Ageing (United Nations 1982). Other researchers (e.g. Peil, Bamisaiye and Ekpenyong 1989) defined the onset of old age with reference to the age of eligibility for state social security programs or pensions, which in Africa ranges from 55 to 65 years, or with reference to average life expectancy in a country (e.g. Folta and Deck 1987). How does one judge these definitions? To what extent do they relate to the people’s perceptual models? Are they congruent with African life experiences or do they conflate the attributes of ageing in Africa with the attributes of old age in industrial societies? Or more fundamentally, is there a particular form of ageing and old age in Africa and if so, how should we define it? Should Africa have its own definition of old age? Should we determine it chronologically?
Clearly, these questions are obvious, but the answers of determining them are quite complex. Looking to the existing gerontological research work in sub-Saharan Africa, we find no really adequate treatment of these problems. Of course, this reflects both the lack of quantitative information as well as the continuing lack of qualitative in-depth studies. The problem is compounded by the fact that many studies have been biased both by the chronological orientation of the observers and their failing to examine the cultural constructions of ageing among the peoples they have studied. This applies likewise to many anthropological studies of societies in sub-Saharan Africa – if they had regard for the subject of old age at all (cf. Fry 1999; Rubinstein 1990). As anthropologist Nancy Foner (1984) has succinctly pointed out, “often we are left wondering what particular ethnographers mean when they say someone is “old”” that is, whether they refer to their own or their informants’ view when they use the very term.”
The intent of this paper is first to describe, in broad outline, the major dimensions of constructions of old age in African societies, then to discuss the findings in terms of the above mentioned questions. The description hereby follows the lead of Glascock (1980) who identified three fundamental criteria for defining the boundaries of old age: (a) lifetime/chronology; (b) functionality; (c) social attributes and/or transitions. However, one caveat is necessary before the discussion can begin: the ethnic, cultural and politicoeconomic heterogeneity of the sub-Saharan social landscape greatly complicates any simple description and analysis of “African” old age: old age means a range of things to different African cultures and communities. Yet, a continent-wide topical treatment of age is an useful enterprise, as it may help us to reflect on central differences in the construction of old age between Euro-American and African cultures. In doing so, it can indicate some of the ways in which researchers may develop a realistic working definition of “old” in Africa that is comparable with “the” Euro-American notion of old age, as used in Western gerontology. In short, the goal of this paper is not to determine any commonalities of existence for old people in sub-Saharan Africa but to establish the boundaries of acceptability of a definition of old age for the purposes of comparison, research and action.