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612-822-4611
Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan

Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan

Paperback

Series: Contemporary Eastern Studies

AnthropologyGeneral SociologyJapanese History

Publisher Price: $29.00

ISBN13: 9798897837823
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Published: Feb 24 2026
Pages: 330
Weight: 0.97
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: Russian
Taming Oblivion examines the cultural construction of senility in Japan and the moral implications of dependent behavior for older Japanese. While the biomedical construction of senility-as-pathology has become increasingly the norm in North America, in Japan a folk category of senility exists known as boke. Although symptomatically and conceptually overlapping with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of senile dementia, boke is distinguished from unambiguously pathological conditions. Rather than being viewed as a disease, boke is seen as an illness over which people have some degree of control. John Traphagan's ethnographic study of older Japanese explores their experiences as they contemplate and attempt to prevent or delay the boke condition.

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Anthropology