Public lecture with Mercator Fellow Tannistha Samanta: „State, Family, and Embodiment: An Aging Society in Transition“

This lecture is open for interested people from the scientific community.

In her talk, Mercator Fellow Prof. Tannistha Samanta (FLAME University in Pune/India) will draw on data from survey-based empirical and phenomenological studies to show how moral-cultural scripts govern the paradoxical realities of growing old in post-reform India. Specifically, this talk will focus on the intersecting axes of class, sociality and consumption to argue how middle-class older Indians navigate changes, continuities, and precarities of ambivalent modernity. Overall, the talk is intended to generate critical discussions on the neoliberal promise of the ‘good (later) life’ while reflecting on the complexities and contradictions embedded in transitions.

About the lecturer:

Tannistha Samanta is an Associate Professor with the Department of Social Sciences, FLAME University, Pune, India. Her research focuses on the nexus of health and aging in India, examining questions related to intergenerational relationships, place-making, social capital, older adult sexualities and theory development in aging. In another line of inquiry, she examines the sexual and reproductive health of women through the intersecting lens of the body and the market. Tannistha serves on several journal editorial boards including Anthropology & Aging, The Sociological Review (SAGE) and the Journal of Aging Studies (Elsevier). Originally from Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), Tannistha received her graduate-level degrees (Masters and PhD) from the Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park.