This book addresses important issues of ageing and spirituality and reflects on the impact of culture on both constructs. The papers are contemporary in that they include excerpts of cultural impact on spirituality from New Zealand, Singapore, India, United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. This book marks almost 20 years of international conferences on ageing and spirituality that commenced in January 2000. It opens the conversation to all who were part of this journey of ageing, including older people, practitioners in ageing and aged care, researchers, and those who reflect on the process of growing older. Chapters feature diverse perspectives, highlighting the need for inclusivity in conversations that surround ageing and recognize how development of cultures is influenced by the society where they emerge, and by minority groups within larger society. Chapters also note the occurrence of subcultures of ageing and aged care. The conference was held shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the chapters being written often during times of lockdown. Their content reflects the importance of spirituality in times of isolation and can show ways of reaching out to vulnerable older people, of various faiths and cultures, whatever their situations. Changing Cultures of Ageing and Spirituality will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Theology, Divinity and Religious Studies, Gerontology, Sociology, Psychology, Mental Health, and Nursing. The chapters included in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging.

Psychoanalysis in an Age of Accelerating Cultural Change: Spiritual Globalization addresses the current status of mental health work in the public and private sectors. The careful, thorough, approach to the individual person characteristic of psychoanalysis is mostly the province of an affluent few. Meanwhile, community-based mental health treatment, given shrinking budgets, tends to emphasize medication and short-term therapies. In an increasingly diverse society, considerations of culture in mental health treatment are given short shrift, despite obligatory nods to cultural competence. The field of mental health has suffered from the mutual isolation of psychoanalysis, community-based clinical work, and cultural studies. Here, Neil Altman shows how these areas of study and practice require and enrich each other - the field of psychoanalysis benefits by engaging marginalized communities; community-based clinical work benefits from psychoanalytic concepts, while all forms of clinical work benefit from awareness of culture. Including reports of clinical experiences and programmatic developments from around the world, its international scope explores the operation of culture and cultural differences in conceptions of mental health. In addition the book addresses the origin and treatment of mental illness, from notions of spirit possession treated by shamans, to conceptions of psychic trauma, to biological understandings and pharmacological treatments. In the background of this discussion is globalization, the impact of which is tracked in terms of its psychological effects on people, as well as on the resources and programs available to provide psychological care around the world. As a unique examination of current mental health work, this book will appeal to psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, community-based mental health workers, and students in Cultural Studies. Neil Altman is a psychoanalytic psychologist, Visiting Professor at Ambedkar University of Delhi, India, and faculty and supervisor at the William Alanson White Institute. He is an Honorary Member of the William Alanson White Society and Editor Emeritus of Psychoanalytic Dialogues. Author of The Analyst in the Inner City: Race, Class, and Culture through a Psychoanalytic Lens (Routledge, 2nd edition, 2010)

This book examines ageing in the context of the many faiths and cultures that make up Western society, and provides carers with the knowledge they need to deliver appropriate care to people of all faiths. Chapters are written by authoritative figures from each of the world's major faith groups about the beliefs and practices of their older people.

Since the popularization of Internet technologies in the mid-1990s, human identity and collective culture has been dramatically shaped by our continued use of digital communication platforms and engagement with the digital world. Despite a plethora of scholarship on digital technology, questions remain regarding how these technologies impact personal identity and perceptions of global culture. Defining Identity and the Changing Scope of Culture in the Digital Age explores a multitude of topics pertaining to self-hood, self-expression, human interaction, and perceptions of civilization and culture in an age where technology has become integrated into every facet of our everyday lives. Highlighting issues of race, ethnicity, and gender in digital culture, interpersonal and computer-mediated communication, pop culture, social media, and the digitization of knowledge, this pivotal reference publication is designed for use by scholars, psychologists, sociologists, and graduate-level students interested in the fluid and rapidly evolving norms of identity and culture through digital media.

This is the first of three volumes on Aging conceived for the International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines contest some of the predominant paradigms on aging, and critically assess modern trends in social health policy.

This Reader brings together a selection of key writings to explore the relationship between religion, media and cultures of everyday life. It provides an overview of the main debates and developments in this growing field, focusing on four major themes: Religion, spirituality and consumer culture Media and the transformation of religion The sacred senses: visual, material and audio culture Religion, and the ethics of media and culture. This collection is an invaluable resource for students, academics and researchers wanting a deeper understanding of religion and contemporary culture.

Health and social care practitioners are increasingly called upon to provide care to elderly people from a number of different faiths and cultures. This collection of essays examines ageing in the context of the many faiths and cultures that make up Western society, and provides carers with the knowledge they need to deliver sensitive and appropriate care to people of all faiths. Chapters are written by authoritative figures from each of the world's major faith groups about the beliefs and practices of their older people. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist perspectives are covered, as well as those of ageing veterans and ageing religious sisters. Issues of appropriate care are also addressed, and the book includes recommendations for policy and practice. This accessible and inspiring book will be a useful text for academics, policy makers and practitioners in health and social care, aged care workers, pastoral carers, chaplains and religious professionals, in hospital, residential and other care settings.

The 19th century was a time of new sensory experiences and modes of perception. The raucous mechanical intensity of the train and the factory vied for attention with the dazzling splendour of department stores and world fairs. Colonization and trade carried European sensations and sensibilities to the world and, in turn, flooded the West with exotic sights and savours. Urban stench became a matter of urgent public concern. Photography created a compelling alternate reality accessible only to the eye. At the turn of the 20th century, the telephone and the radio isolated and extended the sense of hearing and electrical networks spread their webs throughout cities. These novel experiences were reflected in contemporary art and literature, which strove for new ways to express modern sensibilities. A Cultural History of the Senses in the Age of Empire brings together a group of eminent historians to explore the aesthetic, cultural and political formation of the senses during a period of momentous change. A Cultural History of the Senses in the Age of Empire presents essays on the following topics: the social life of the senses; urban sensations; the senses in the marketplace; the senses in religion; the senses in philosophy and science; medicine and the senses; the senses in literature; art and the senses; and sensory media.

Scientific experiments and medical improvements in recent years have augmented our bodies, made them manipulable; our personal data have been downloaded, stored, sold, analyzed; and the pandemic has given new meaning to the idea of ‘virtual presence’. Such phenomena are often thought to belong to the era of the ‘posthuman’, an era that both promises and threatens to redefine the notion of the human: what does it mean to be human? Can technological advances impact the way we define ourselves as a species? What will the future of humankind look like? These questions have gained urgency in recent years, and continue to preoccupy cultural and legal practitioners alike. How can the law respond and adapt to a world shaped by technology and AI? How can it ensure that technological developments remain inclusive, while simultaneously enforcing ethical limits to its reach? The volume explores how fictional texts, whether on the page or on screen, negotiate the legal dilemmas posed by the increasing infiltration of technology into modern life.