Reframing Aging

<p>How do we age? Why do we age? How and why does menopause happen? Do different cultures have different approaches and attitudes to and experiences of aging and menopause? <i>Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese </i>uses a biocultural framework to try to answer these questions and gain insights on aging and menopause in Japan the United States and beyond.</p><p>Drawing on years of fieldwork and lab work in Japan and over a decade of living and working in Japan at several universities and the National Institute of Health and Nutrition with follow‑up interviews spanning over 20 years Melissa Melby challenges what are often considered “normal” experiences of aging and menopause. This book introduces a proximate‑ultimate biocultural framework to guide the reader through questions of how (proximate) and why (ultimate) we age and experience menopause as we do. Drawing insights from evolutionary biology and societal‑level phenomena and the language of lived experience it explores how cross‑cultural variation in expectations medicalization collectivism lifestyles and other factors may influence how symptoms of aging and menopause are perceived experienced and treated.</p><p>Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese offers new approaches and insightful perspectives for students of biological/cultural/medical anthropology gerontology Asian studies women and gender studies medicine and public health.</p>