Rituals of Care: Karmic Politics in an Aging Thailand
Felicity Aulino
Abstract
End-of-life issues are increasingly central to discussions within medical anthropology, the anthropology of political action, and the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice. This book 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, the book challenges common presumptions about the universal nature of “caring.” The book shows an inseparable link between forms of social organization and forms of care. Unlike most accounts of the quo ... More
End-of-life issues are increasingly central to discussions within medical anthropology, the anthropology of political action, and the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice. This book 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, the book challenges common presumptions about the universal nature of “caring.” The book shows 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, the book 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 ways—care for one's group, care of the polity—it 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 the author, 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.
Keywords:
end of life,
medical anthropology,
political action,
Buddhist philosophy,
population aging,
elderly,
care,
social organization,
Thailand
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781501739729 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: May 2020 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9781501739729.001.0001 |
