M.A. | B.A. | Chiapas and Mexico Map
Formative Research on Gender, Elder Health and Care in Chiapas, Mexico
Doctoral dissertation for the Ph.D. in Anthropology
with Medical Anthropology & Gender Concentrations
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona
Thesis advisor & dissertation committee chair: Mark A. Nichter
Namino Glantz, 2007
Problem
In contrast to developed and developing countries (including Mexico as a whole) where older women outlive and outnumber older men, Chiapas, Mexico is unusual in having an elder population (aged 50+) in which women are outlived and outnumbered by men. I hypothesize that, compared to elder Chiapanecan men and their national female cohort, elder Chiapanecan women face more morbidity, receive less and/or poorer quality care, and shoulder more elder care responsibility, resulting in their precarious health status. Elder care research is urgent in Mexico – especially in the long-marginalized state of Chiapas – given rapid demographic and epidemiological transition; widespread health disparity; an inefficient and non-universal health care system; low living standards and pronounced economic inequality; structural poverty; a fragile sociopolitical context; and rapidly evolving notions of gender- and generation-based entitlement.
Objective
Harness gender-sensitive medical anthropology to understand perceptions and experiences of health and health care among older adults in Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico to facilitate locally-initiated efforts promoting elder health via community-congruent intervention.
Theoretical Axes
- Feminist age theory
- Household production of health model
- Departure from androcentric, medico-centric, and ethnocentric elder health research traditions
- Importance of applied implications
Methods
Original fieldwork in Comitan, Chiapas, involving a multiple actors via a variety of participatory methods:
- Inter-institutional elder health conference
- Elder health survey
- Interviews with elders and (in)formal care providers
- Strategic meeting
- Independent working group
- Ongoing, iterative collaboration between researcher and working group
Presentations of Findings
- Methods: public, participatory anthropology methods engaging multiple stakeholders
- Context: Comitán, Chiapas, Mexico. Overview of participating elders, caretakers, and service providers
- Findings: Health problems and care, contrasting:
- male/female experiences
- patient/provider perspectives
- local/national dynamics
- Brief case descriptions of select informants to illustrate aging, health, gender interaction
- Discussion
- Local biologics and cultures of aging
- Entitlement and social suffering of elders, and impact of/on other household members
- Emergent social epidemiology and gender inequality
- Community response to research findings and recommendations for policy and planning
Institutional Support
- Comitán Center for Health Research www.cisc.org.mx
- Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research
- Woodrow-Wilson Johnson & Johnson National Fellowship Foundation
- University of Arizona
Extended Dissertation Summary
Glantz PhD Summary PDF
Dissertation available upon request: