12:00 pm
Lihong Shi
Clark Hall Room 206, 11130 Bellflower Road
In 2015, as China ended its controversial one-child policy (1980-2015), allowing all couples to have two children, an unintended consequence of the one-child policy became even more apparent; a growing number of parents lost their only child to illness, accident, or suicide. Unable to have another child due to advanced age, these parents now face emotional and social isolation as Chinese society is becoming increasingly child centered and an imminent, uncertain old age without the support of a child. Based on fieldwork with China’s bereaved parents between 2016 and 2024, this talk by Lihong Shi, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, reveals how the grief experience of these Chinese parents is shaped by sociocultural forces regulating the emotion of grief, unequal access to eldercare resources, and the negotiation between bereaved parents and the authorities on state responsibility for the parents’ eldercare support.
An informal lunch will be served.
Registration is requested. Register HERE.
Click HERE to learn more about Lihong Shi.