The subject matter of social-cultural anthropology has never been monolithic in nature. This sub-discipline within anthropology has always shifted its agenda owing to the changing nature of the society and culture and academic shifts in thinking and theories within anthropology. This had important impact on the emergence and development of ageing studies in the discipline. It was not until the 20th century that ageing studies began in the discipline. This was largely due to the fact that since the inception of the discipline in the mid-19th century, the major concern was to historicize the human social and cultural existence on the planet. It took a macro approach that focused on universal history. Ageing studies could not be located within this framework.
With the emergence of micro field studies during the early 20th century that one finds the emergence of ageing studies in the form of age-set systems that were crucial to the political and social life of some African tribal groups that were the focus of anthropological studies for almost throughout the century. It was since then that social roles assigned to people of different age groups and the detailed processes of socialization became an important area of study in anthropology.
The presentation will try to locate the emergence and development of ageing studies within the discipline of social-cultural anthropology. The presentation will focus on the cultural conceptions of age will bring to the fore, ethnographic studies on ageing that will include studies on rites de passage and biographical studies on ageing.
