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Dementia and migration: Pakistani immigrants in the Norwegian welfare state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2014

ANDERS NÆSS  and
BJØRG MOEN
ANDERS NÆSS*
Affiliation:
Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA), Oslo, Norway.
BJØRG MOEN
Affiliation:
Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA), Oslo, Norway.
*
Address for correspondence: Anders Næss, Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), P.O. Box 3223 Elisenberg, N-0208 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article is about dementia disease in the context of transnational migration. Focusing on the example of Pakistani immigrants in Norway, the article explores response processes surrounding signs and symptoms of dementia. Particular attention is lent to understanding how Norwegian-Pakistani families ‘negotiate dementia’ in the space between their own imported, culturally defined system of cure and care, and the Norwegian health-care culture, which is characterised by an inclination towards public care and biomedical intervention. Based on field observations and in-depth interviews with Norwegian-Pakistani families and hospital professionals working with dementia, we show that the centrality of the traditional family in Norwegian-Pakistanis' identity claims has significant implications for how Norwegian-Pakistanis relate to the Norwegian health-care culture, and for how signs and symptoms of cognitive decline are read and responded to in a migratory context.

Keywords

dementiamigrationNorwegian-Pakistanisintergenerational reciprocity‘normal ageing’
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 8 , September 2015 , pp. 1713 - 1738
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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