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Anthropology

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

1994

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Cultural Considerations In The Experience Of Aging: Two African Cultures, Patricia Draper, Henry Harpending Jan 1994

Cultural Considerations In The Experience Of Aging: Two African Cultures, Patricia Draper, Henry Harpending

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

We have three general conclusions to emphasize as well as an observation about aging in these [!Kung and Herero] societies that we believe deserves elaboration:

1. Old people are treated well in both these groups but not because they are scarce. Both the !Kung and the Herero are low-fertility populations so the proportion of the total population that is old is high in both groups.

2. Old people do not appreciate what appears to be the good (!Kung) and superb (Herero) social support that they receive. They have nothing good to say about being old. While we perceived very positive …