Intergenerational relationships and inner family resource flows in West Africa: A Comparison between Benin and Togo

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Erdmute Alber
• Subject Area: Social and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
• Term: from 2007 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 48349436

The project conducts research in three rural regions of West Africa the kin based intergenerational relationships and particularly the material care of elderly people. The research on intergenerational relationships for Africa is accompanied by various discourses on power, status and prestige of old people. Further ambivalent are statements about supply for elderly persons. It is said that elderly supply is obligatory for their adult children, even under the circumstances of missing formal social security systems for elderly people. To analyze critically these clichés, the research project runs quantifying and qualitative surveys in three villages during one year to investigate intergenerational familial resource flows.The focus of the prolongation period foresees the analysis and publication of all standardized surveys, as well as the analysis of personal networks, and mainly the analysis of the SEIR survey data. This analysis will answer the main questions, whether care for the elderly and intergenerational relations differentiate in rural settings, which roles influences of the state or regional specifics play. The comparison of the three case studies offers conclusions from national and regional distinctions of different ethnic groups (Kabiye in Togo and Lokpa in Benin versus Baatombu in Benin) on familial intergenerational supply. On a different level the project compares different national influences of the two states Togo and Benin.The central findings of the research project will be presented in a book and articles. Therefore we refer to our publications, in which we already contributed to a theoretical level and in a partial analysis of our qualitative data to scientific discussions on intergenerational relations. In sum we want to conduct a substantial contribution to studies of kinship, to structural and practical discussions on elderly supply in rural areas, and to the historical contextualization of kin related care.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants