Mita Philosophical Society Lecture
Event Date
Event Venue
Various Aspects of Elderly Care in Java, Indonesia
2020/01/07
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Date & Time | Thursday, January 30, 2020, 6:00 PM–8:30 PM |
Venue | Room 312, Graduate School Building, Keio University Mita Campus https://www.keio.ac.jp/ja/maps/mita.html ) |
Eligibility | No prior registration required. Free admission. |
Lecturer | Sachiko Gochi (Junior Research Fellow, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; Visiting Researcher, Institute of Asian Cultures, Toyo University) |
Co-hosted by | Keio University Anthropology Study Group |
Abstract: In Japan, where the population is rapidly aging, a shortage of elderly caregivers has become a serious problem. To compensate for this,
the government is strengthening its acceptance of care workers from other countries, mainly from Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, little is known about
the state of elderly care in their home countries. This lecture, based on research conducted to date,
will introduce the nature of elderly care in Java, Indonesia. Previous studies, assuming the act of care,
have analyzed the relationships of the people involved by focusing on which relatives are responsible for care, or through the medicalized relationship
of "caring" and "being cared for." In contrast, this research focuses on the situation of sharing a space, or "being there," which is highly valued by the Javanese people.
The relationship between the elderly and their families and society is a series of connections that involve a wide range of changes,
not limited to elderly care in the narrow sense. By examining the mutual relationships of people within a broader social context from the perspective
of "being there," this study considers the way of life of the elderly within a series of connections, without isolating the act of care itself.
This lecture aims to provide a clue to deepen the understanding of cultural differences
in elderly care.
Profile: Junior Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and Visiting
Researcher at the Institute of Asian Cultures, Toyo University. Her specializations are Indonesian area studies and cultural anthropology.
Since 2009, she has been conducting research on elderly care with a fieldwork focus on Yogyakarta,
Republic of Indonesia.
Her major publications include "Elderly Care and the Modern Javanese Family: The Social Dynamics of Ngancani (Being There)"
(PhD diss., Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2019); "Re-examining the Norms of Filial Piety: A Case Study of Elderly Welfare Facilities in Java, Indonesia,"
in Yoko Hayami, ed., "The Potential of Care in Southeast Asia: Practices of Living Connections"
(Kyoto University Press, 2019); and "The Birth and Potential of Professional Caregivers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia:
Through Pramurukti ( *Pramurukti* ) Training," in "Southeast Asia: History and Culture" 44 (2015): 101–119,
and others.