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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Public alms solicitation among the Yoruba elderly in Nigeria | | Author(s) | Funmi Togonu-Bickersteth, E O Akinnawo, O S Akinyele |
| Journal title | Southern African Journal of Gerontology, vol 6, no 2, October 1997 |
| Pages | pp 26-31 |
| Keywords | Poverty ; The Family ; Social change ; Urban areas ; Nigeria. |
| Annotation | This paper reports on a pilot study of 108 Yoruba older persons engaged in begging in three major towns in south-western Nigeria. Data were collected through taped in-depth interviews with the subject on or near the locations in which they were begging. The aim of the study was to understand the circumstances which led to this choice of occupation. In particular, the extent of the subjects' social embeddedness in their communities, their reasons for begging and their perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of this means of livelihood were explored. Findings showed that the majority of older beggars were those who for personal and health-related reasons fell through the informal traditional social safety net and for whom society provides no formal alternative. These findings are used to draw attention to the increasing frailty of the extended family system in coping with demands brought by older age in an increasingly urbanised and heterogeneous Nigerian society. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980225405 A |
| Classmark | W6: SJ: TMH: RK: 7MT |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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