Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2024, Sociology

The aim of this dissertation is to examine caregiving experiences that middle-aged Russian daughters (raised in a single-mother household) currently provide for their aging mothers and their expectations for their own future care needs. While there is burgeoning literature on caregiving in the United States, the issue remains largely unexplored in Russia. Most existing empirical work examines Russia in comparison with other low-income countries. This study centers the voices of the women from the Russian periphery. Unaffordable home care services, low pensions, bifurcation of the used-to-be free healthcare into state and private, the invisibility of the people with disabilities, and the absence of quality nursing homes, left adult daughters in Ufa no choice but to bear the full burden of caregiving for their mothers completely alone. For this qualitative exploratory study, 40 women from Ufa were recruited to participate in a two-hour semi-structured interview via Zoom or Skype. The age of the women ranged from 35 to 50 years with the average age being 41 years (SD=4.3). All participants completed their undergraduate education and earned a bachelor's degree. A reflective thematic analysis (Braun et al., 2022; Braun & Clarke, 2023) of the qualitative data was conducted; codes and themes were identified inductively, as they emerged from the interviews. The study found that the stress associated with caring for aging mothers was exacerbated by the incongruence of physical environment (Khrushchev-era apartments, inaccessible public transportation and buildings, poorly-maintained sidewalks) with the needs of older adults. Adult daughters were trapped in the caregiving role with no social support and long-term care facilities. This study captured a strong drive of adult Ufa daughters to give assistance to their mothers.

Committee: Eva Kahana (Committee Chair); Mary Erdmans (Committee Member); Susan Hinze (Committee Member); Kelly Mcmann (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Anthropology

This dissertation examines how a matrilineal Tibetan society has reacted to the political, economic, and socio-cultural changes in China. The Zhaba region of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province was chosen as the overall field site because of its matrilineal kinship system and "visiting marriage" tradition, in which partners live in their natal matrilineal households while children belong to the mothers' family. Based on eleven months of anthropological fieldwork, this dissertation is the first ethnography on marriage, family, and intergenerational relations among matrilineal Tibetans in Southwestern China. This dissertation discusses how the changing ideals of marriage and family formations influence people of different generations. A major argument of this dissertation is that the interplay of state policies including birth planning policy, household registration policy, marriage certification rules, and socio-economic developments over the past few decades, have contributed to changes in the "visiting marriage" tradition and family ideals among the matrilineal Zhaba Tibetans. This has led to the sense of exclusiveness between the visiting partners, an increase of the father's contribution in childrearing, and the emergence of neolocal nuclear families. However, this dissertation shows that there has been a revival of the traditional "visiting marriage" among the majority of young people in their twenties (63.64%) who still chose to practice "visiting marriage" and live with their natal matrilineal households. Using ethnographic data, this dissertation brings to the forefront how a matrilineal society in the cultural context of China, structures the life course of different generations and affects the well-being of the elderly. Moreover, this in-depth, on-the-ground ethnography of Tibetans residing in Sichuan province, demonstrates the diverse manner that ethnic Tibetans are adapting to change and development in China. By comparing family ch (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Melvyn Goldstein (Committee Chair); Lihong Shi (Committee Member); Vanessa Hildebrand (Committee Member); Peter Yang (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Anthropology

Based on 18 months of fieldwork conducted in Dekyi, a matrilocal village in Phenpo County in Tibet Autonomous Region, China, this dissertation ethnographically examines the aging experiences of the elderly in the matrilocal family system amidst rapid socioeconomic transformation. This dissertation is one of the first few studies that present data on the matrilocal family system in Tibet. Despite the socioeconomic changes that tended to erode the care the elderly in patrilocal areas receive, the elderly in Dekyi have been spared some of the negative impacts induced by such changes. Especially revealing was that while only half of the Dekyi elderly had control over economic resources, all of the elderly were satisfied with the care they received from their co-residing children and children-in-law and were content with their situations. Villagers claimed that their fortunate lots were precisely due to their matrilocal practice in which they kept their daughters at home instead of sons. As a result of the matrilocal practice, the elderly would receive care from their own daughters, who were considered to be more caring than sons and daughters-in-law. The data collected lent support to this claim, but also revealed a more complex picture. That is, daughters' desired care was made possible through the protective mechanisms of the matrilocal family system that tended to foster women-headed and conflicts-free households. On the one hand, as household heads, the daughters controlled household income, which gave them economic power to provide for their parents materially and financially. On the other hand, the matrilocal households tended to have fewer family conflicts than the patrilocal households did due to the less pronounced parent- and son-in-law conflicts. As a result, the elderly in matrilocal households experienced harmony and security, which were essential to their psychological well-being. Moreover, friendly family relations enabled both daughters and sons-in-la (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Melvyen Goldstein (Committee Chair); Vanessa Hildebrand (Committee Member); Lihong Shi (Committee Member); Peter Yang (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Sociology

Parents' and children's lives are intrinsically connected throughout the life course. Transitions that occur in the parents' and children's lives, whether normative or non-normative in nature, may be associated with changes in parents' ambivalence toward their adult children. This study used the 2006 and 2010 rounds of the Health and Retirement Study to examine how parents' or children's normative or non-normative status transitions relate to parents' feelings of ambivalence toward children and whose transitions− parents' or children's− matter most when considering ambivalence toward children. This study found that children's non-normative transitions significantly increase parent's ambivalence toward children. The findings from this study also suggest that children's transitions, rather than parents' transitions, are most associated with parents' feelings of ambivalence toward children. Yet as parents today undergo more status transitions than generations past, it may be increasingly important to examine the association that parents' status transitions have with ambivalence toward adult children.

Committee: I-Fen Lin Dr. (Advisor); Susan L. Brown Dr. (Committee Member); Kei Nomaguchi Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Demography; Families and Family Life; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Anthropology

This dissertation attempts to find what factors play a key role in women's ability to control their own lives by studying women's postpartum practices, specifically women's intergenerational relations as these are played out during traditional postpartum practices of ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿, Sitting the Month, in Taiwan using the strength of anthropological methods. Using semi-structures questionnaires and participant observation, three key questions are to be answered by this dissertation: 1) Where and how are women sitting the month currently in Taiwan? How is this different or the same from 15-20 years ago? 2) What are some of the factors enabling or hindering their stated ideals/goals in how they sat the month? 3) How have intergenerational relations between Chinese women in the family changed or remained the same in Taiwan? If there are changes, can they be attributed to economic variables, or are there other factors to be considered? This study found that sitting the month in Taiwan has becoming increasingly commercialized, extending the business of Chinese women's postpartum globally into mainland China and in the US. The conclusions from this study seem to point to social relationships and not economics as being key factors in women's ability to control their own lives. Women sitting the month currently seem to enjoy an increased autonomy if they are separated from their mothers-in-law. Living with their mothers-in-law translates to lesser freedom of choice, regardless of their income or education. Young women's status has increased so that they are able to make their own decisions regarding their family, their bodies and their lives, but this change in their autonomy is not absolute and varies depending on family circumstances. Variables such as income and education had little to do with women's satisfaction and decision-making in their day to day lives, but residence patterns were significant in the young women's power and authority over their own lives. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Charlotte Ikels PhD (Committee Chair); Dr. Jill Korbin PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Atwood Gaines PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Elizabeth Damato PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Cultural Anthropology