NotNormativelyHuman 265
elders into such institutions,^98 a trend amplified by political and media
attention.TheOctober3,2012,editionofTheNewIndianExpressstates
that the number of such homes has doubled during the preceding three
years (Kalyanam n. pag.). In the general public, the emergence of such
institutions is often viewed as a token of a continuing colonialist
influence, "a deplorable Westernization... a loss of Indian traditions
andvalues"(Lamb56);andindeed,thefirstretirementhomestoemerge
in colonial India were set up by English and French colonizers for their
own people and as charity for "deserving natives." Some of these
institutions are lingering on in what might literally be called a
postcolonialexistence.Interestingly,asLambalsonotes,theterminuse
for the now emerging institutions remains an English one–old age
homes–which reflects their contentious nature, since Indians often use
English phrases and terms to talk about taboo topics (55; cf. fn. 4).
Lawrence Cohen's astute pronouncement that there was "no aging in
India" (Cohen 88) prior to Western intervention can stand as an initial
shorthandforthiscomplicatedprocess.WhatIfindespeciallyimportant
in this context is that "the relational geographies" (Horton and Kraftl
284) of late life, as they originally emerged in the West, can now be
mappedontoaglobalscale.
ParalleltotheexportofWesterncareinstitutionstootherpartsofthe
world, recent years have seen the emergence of "culture-sensitive" care
facilities in Europe, such as the Türk Bakim Evi in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
Such care facilities are often regarded as spaces of an "ethnic
homecoming" of sorts where the hardships and frustrations of a work
life away from home can at long last be redeemed in the intimacy of
one's own cultural traditions. This is at least the idea behind retirement
facilitiessuchasthePauloAgbayaniRetirementVillageoperatedbythe
UnitedFarmWorkersforagingFilipinofieldworkersnearDelano,CA,
or Nikkei Manor for Japanese seniors. Facilities are run by staff who
speak the migrants' language and are familiar with their cultural
(^98) The 2009 edition of theDirectory of Old Age Homes in India, published by
HelpAgeIndia(and the most recent one available to the author) is a 474 page
affair, listing homes in many states, cf. Policy Research and Development
Department HelpAge India.Directory of Old Age Homes in India. New Delhi:
HelpAgeIndia,2009.Web.20May2017.