Research Presentation: "Caregiving in Oaxaca: Social Perspectives on Aging and Dementia"

Jonathan Yahalom, clinical psychologist and CSRC visiting scholar for 2017-18, will share findings from his extensive study of rural family caregiving for elders living with dementia in Oaxaca, Mexico. Drawing on research conducted in the Zapotec language, this presentation advances theoretical issues pertaining to cultural competence in the clinical sciences. Further, it develops anthropological insights about how aging, dementia, and caregiving are a prism for macro-level social changes in Oaxaca. Yahalom will explore idioms of distress concerning dementia, and how they serve to foster social cohesion. Caregiving experience will also be analyzed with regard to local stigmas about illness. The presentation will address themes pertaining to clinical psychology, medical anthropology, and contemporary research in Mexico.

Jonathan Yahalom received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duquesne University where he studied clinical and theoretical psychology, as well as qualitative research methods. He is the author of the forthcoming book Caring for the People of the Clouds: Dementia, Aging, and Caregiving in Oaxaca, Mexico (University of Oklahoma Press, 2019).

This event is FREE.