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Cisan and Malahang: Indigenous Older Adults’ Voices on Active Aging – Findings from a Qualitative Study in Taiwan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2023

Wasiq Silan Open the ORCID record for Wasiq Silan [Opens in a new window]  and
Mai Camilla Munkejord
Wasiq Silan*
Affiliation:
The Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism (CEREN), Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Mai Camilla Munkejord
Affiliation:
Centre for Care Research West, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
*
Corresponding author: La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Wasiq Silan, Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Snellmaninkatu 12, 00170 Helsinki, Finland (An.gao@helsinki.fi).
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Abstract

The Taiwan Government follows the policy of active aging to prevent frailty. However, the current services lack cultural safety toward the Indigenous peoples and would benefit from a broader perspective on what active aging may entail. In this research, we study local perceptions of active aging among older Indigenous Tayal taking part in a local day club. The study identifies two formal activities that foster active aging: (a) information meetings about health and illness and (b) physical activities. In addition, two informal activities highlighted by the participants themselves were identified as necessary for promoting healthy and active aging: Cisan and Malahang. While Cisan means “social care,” Malahang means “interrelational care practices.” In conclusion, we argue for the relevance of listening to Indigenous older adults’ voices to develop long-term care services adapted to their cultural values, linguistic competence, and cosmology.

Résumé

Résumé

Le gouvernement de Taïwan suit la politique du “vieillissement actif” pour prévenir la fragilité. Pourtant les services actuels manquent de sensibilité culturelle envers les populations autochtones. Dans cet article, nous étudions le vieillissement actif du point de vue de Tayal âgés, Tayal étant une de 16 populations autochtones officiellement reconnues au Taïwan. Sur la base d’observations participatives et d’entretiens (interviews) avec des Tayal qui participaient à un “Club de jour pour les âgés”, nous avons identifié deux activités formelles censées favoriser le vieillissement actif, notamment a) réunions d’information sur la santé et les maladies, et b) activités physiques, ainsi que deux activités informelles, mais plus importantes pour les participants eux-mêmes, Cisan et Malahang, qui signifient des pratiques de soins sociales et interrelationnelles. Nous devrions écouter les voix des Aînés autochtones pour développer des services adaptés à leurs valeurs culturelles, leurs compétences linguistiques et leur cosmologie.

Keywords

agingactive agingTaiwanIndigenous peoplesTayalwelfare colonizationcultural safetyvieillissementvieillissement actifTaïwanpopulations autochtonesTayaldécolonisationsécurité culturelle
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , December 2023 , pp. 599 - 606
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Copyright
© Canadian Association on Gerontology 2023

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