Katrien Pype
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447325253
- eISBN:
- 9781447325307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447325253.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Gerontology and Ageing
This chapter aims to bring the retirement home into the conversation about care services in African societies. While there are indeed not that many retirement homes operating on the continent, they ...
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This chapter aims to bring the retirement home into the conversation about care services in African societies. While there are indeed not that many retirement homes operating on the continent, they nonetheless exist and are part of the urban landscape. The analysis includes the relations between the residents of Kinshasa’s retirement homes and their relatives, the state, the church, and sponsors. A focus is on the movement between the city and the home de vieillards. Economic, social, religious and cultural parameters push certain individuals to take up residency in a retirement home; these are regularly visited by donors steered by economic and/or political ambitions. It will be shown that, while for many, elderly people are considered to be “without value”, the indigents actually play an important role in personal, collective and corporate strategies.Less
This chapter aims to bring the retirement home into the conversation about care services in African societies. While there are indeed not that many retirement homes operating on the continent, they nonetheless exist and are part of the urban landscape. The analysis includes the relations between the residents of Kinshasa’s retirement homes and their relatives, the state, the church, and sponsors. A focus is on the movement between the city and the home de vieillards. Economic, social, religious and cultural parameters push certain individuals to take up residency in a retirement home; these are regularly visited by donors steered by economic and/or political ambitions. It will be shown that, while for many, elderly people are considered to be “without value”, the indigents actually play an important role in personal, collective and corporate strategies.
