Rituals of Care

Felicity Aulino

Description

Aulino's work is a strong contribution to the study of aging in the field of medical anthropology specifically because of the focus on the embodied performativity of care evident in her research practice and analysis. Rituals of Care is an excellent book, which offers a thoughtful approach to everyday care in Thailand. Anthropology & AgingEnd-of-life issues are increasingly central to discussions within medical anthropology, the anthropology of political action, and the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice. Felicity Aulino's Rituals of Care speaks directly to these important anthropological and existential conversations. Against the backdrop of global population aging and increased attention to care for the elderly, both personal and professional, Aulino challenges common presumptions about the universal nature of "caring." The way she examines particular sets of emotional and practical ways of being with people, and their specific historical lineages, allows Aulino to show an inseparable link between forms of social organization and forms of care.Unlike most accounts of the quotidian concerns of providing care in a rapidly aging society, Rituals of Care brings attention to corporeal processes. Moving from vivid descriptions of the embodied routines at the heart of home caregiving to depictions of care practices in more general wayscare for one's group, care of the polityit develops the argument that religious, social, and political structures are embodied, through habituated action, in practices of providing for others. Under the watchful treatment of Aulino, care becomes a powerful foil for understanding recent political turmoil and structural change in Thailand, proving embodied practice to be a vital vantage point for phenomenological and political analyses alike.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Ethnic studies

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501739743
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

RITUALS OF CARE

RITUALS OF CARE Karmic Politics in an Aging Thailand

Felicity Aulino

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2019 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Aulino, Felicity, author. Title: Rituals of care : karmic politics in an aging Thailand / Felicity Aulino. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical  references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019009363 (print) | LCCN 2019011862 (ebook) |  ISBN 9781501739743 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501739750 (epub/mobi) |  ISBN 9781501739729 | ISBN 9781501739729 (cloth) |  ISBN 9781501739736 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Older people—Care—Thailand—Chiang Mai. | Caregivers—  Thailand—Chiang Mai. | Older people—Thailand—Chiang Mai—Social  conditions. | Buddhism—Social aspects—Thailand—Chiang Mai. | Population  aging—Social aspects—Thailand—Chiang Mai. | Ethnology—Thailand—  Chiang Mai. Classification: LCC HV1484.T55 (ebook) | LCC HV1484.T55 A95 2019 (print) |  DDC 362.609593—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009363

Cover photo courtesy of Felicity Aulino

To my parents

Contents

Acknowledgments Note on Names and Thai Transliteration

Introduction: An Invitation to Care

1.  The Karma of Care: Ordinary Actions and Their Consequences 2.  The Conditioning of Care: Intention, Emotion, and Restraint 3.  The Subjects of Care: Perceiving the Social Body 4.  The Civic Landscape of Care: Merit and the Spirit of Volunteering for Elders 5.  The Violence of Care: Pity and Compassion, Patronage and Repression

Conclusion: On Unending Care: Rituals for Making Things So

Notes References Index

ix xiii

1

19

43

68

88

114

143

151 175 187

Acknowledgments

So many wonderful people made this project possible and have supported me through the years of research and writing. I am told the acknowledgments can not be longer than the book itself, so here I will name but a few of the generous souls who have made this experience so very rich. To the friends, the funders, and the winds of fate that helped bring this work to fruition—I thank you so. Deepest thanks go to my friend and mentor Linchong Pothiban, of Chiang Mai University’s Faculty of Nursing. She set this project on its course and nur tured me and my family every step of the way. Immense gratitude also goes to Sawang Kaewkantha, who was a constant guide and ally, and who opened up the world of elder care in Thailand to me. I use pseudonyms for most of the people who appear in this book, though I am deeply grateful for their every assistance, great and small. Words in fact cannot express the gratitude I feel for everyone who allowed me to occupy the strange role of anthropologist and to live and work in their midst. Particular thanks goes to my family in Nong Hoi. The research and writing represented here was made possible by generous grant support. My thanks go to the Social Science Research Council, the Wenner Gren Foundation, the Harvard Committee on General Scholarships, the Mellon Foundation, and the Templeton Foundation. Thanks unending to MaryJo DelVecchio Good, my mentor since college, without whom none of this would have been possible; Byron Good, an intellec tual interlocutor beyond compare; Arthur Kleinman, an incredibly generous teacher, reader, and guide; Michael Herzfeld, an ally with great taste and superb attention to detail; and Michael Puett, whose enthusiasm and insight have proven inspirational at every turn. Michael M. J. Fischer has shown me what masterful scholarship looks like, and I thank him for his feedback on this project. Charles Hallisey remains a steadfast guide. Thank you to Paul Farmer, Anne Becker, Salmaan Keshavjee, and Arthur Kleinman, and the entire crew of Societies of the World 25, who taught me an enormous amount about global health practice and pedagogy, greatly influencing my thinking. Thank you to all my teachers, includ ing the late Stanley J. Tambiah, who was a good friend and through whom I came to appreciate the power of history and the disorienting strength of radical egali tarianism. And above all, thank you to Aba Cecile McHardy, the Friendly Dragon,

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