Respect and reciprocity: care of elderly people in rural Ghana

This article deals with ideas and practices of care of elderly people in a rural Kwahu community of Ghana. It is part of a larger project on social and cultural meanings of growing old. Four questions are addressed: What kind of care do old people receive? Who provides that care? On what basis do people care for the old or do they feel obliged to do so? And finally, what are the changes taking place in the field of care for old people? Concepts of respect and reciprocity take a central position in accounts of care and lack of care. The article is based on anthropological fieldwork, mainly conversations with 35 elderly people and observations in their daily lives.