Kavita Sivaramakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan - As the World Ages

IN DECEMBER 1984, experts at the first African gerontological conference, held in Dakar, confronted a new problem: the challenge of Africas aging populations. A report on the conference observed that

This week, the aging of Africa truly began and with it, the recording of its historic start right here in Dakar. For the first time representatives from all of Africa have met to exchange ideas and find ways and means of maintaining the graceful and dignified aging which has been the heritage of Africa and which is likely to tumble under the rapid social, economic and cultural changes that appear to be the lot of Africa in this century and beyond. Immediately after political independence, African societies abandoned agriculture in favor of industrialization which seemed to them their only way to achieve economic autonomy and assure their development. The technological choices made, however, have contributed to the marginalization of aged persons.

The observation that the moment was uniquely historical is particularly striking. Far from being simple encomium, it highlighted a history that needed to be reset: it underscored a crucial and disruptive aspect of the problem of aging as a sociopolitical issue that required recasting. Aging had so far been approached as an issue that grew out of industrialization and development. The issue defined industrialized Western societies and populations and their present, and, in the same form, represented the remote future of the as-yet undeveloped world. These assumptions colored the approach to what was really a world problem but was still not informed by experiences from other parts of the world. In this report, the writers put their finger on the pulse of the issue: the problems of aging across the world were interwoven with issues and historicities of a recent past in Africa: an uneven process of industrialization, technology shifts, development, and rapid social, economic, and cultural changes. These events and processes needed to be reconciled and integrated into the conceptual apparatus of aging, and the problems associated with old age needed to acquire new explanatory sensibilities informed by aging in Africa.

In the 1980s, in Dakar as elsewhere in the global South, aging as a moral and developmental issue was beginning to engage the imaginations of experts and activists. Apart from local politicians, the conference also attracted an impressive number of social experts from across the continent who were advocating for the needs of aging persons. In particular, the meeting drew and shaped a first generation of African gerontological experts and activists interested in the study and field of aging in Africa, who claimed that they could guide the process of mitigating these shifts and renewing African society. Speakers at the conference narrated a story, told and retold since the 1940s, of modernizations and developments ills and the dependence of older persons. The delegates observed that societal choices about development had produced the social and economic predicaments associated with aging populations in Africa. The narratives of aging in developing nations were thereby tied to the aspirations of decolonization in Africa and associated with attempts by various nations to forge ahead on a path of unfettered industrial modernization. This flawed vision led to untold losses in just a few decades: instead of lifting all boats, it diminished certain populations, such as the aged, who lost the support of their families and communities. The aged became the face of unfettered developments failures and challenges.