Yan Zhang

Dementia was viewed as a normal part of aging in China, yet it was medicalized as a mental disorder attached with severe stigma not only for victims but also for families. Rapid modernization in China also transforms eldercare patterns for family caregiving. Currently, there were 9.19 million elders with dementia in China. Yet, little is known about how Chinese families cope with dementia care and how relations and identities change during the process of caregiving and illness. By engaging with medicalization of aging, anthropology of care, as well as population aging and eldercare in China, this project will examine the meanings and social practices of family caregiving for elders with dementia in Shanghai, China.