“好媳妇”、“报”与关系性照护伦理——基于四川嘉绒藏族地区中老年女性照护者的民族志考察

“Good Daughter-in-Law”,“Intergenerational Reciprocity” and Ethics of Relation-Based Care: An Ethnographical Study of Middle-Aged Female Caregivers in Jiarong Tibetan Area, Western Sichuan Province

在老龄人口增加、社会服务事业和基础设施相对缺乏的背景下,家庭养老依然是中国民族地区的基本养老方式。本研究基于四川嘉绒藏族地区农村的民族志调查,运用医学人类学的照护理论考察经济发展与农村空心化背景下中老年女性群体的日常照护体验与意义建构。文章发现,作为家庭养老照护的实际承担者,留守村庄的女性照护者主要依凭传统伦理解释自身的照料实践,“好媳妇”的社会期待和“一报还一报”的代际回馈构成其主要意义来源。随着民族地区农村空心化程度加剧、地方道义世界遭遇冲击,承担繁重照料职责的中老年女性照护者日渐边缘化,其自身养老前景亦面临挑战。文章认为,养老政策需在完善农村地区的医疗保健设施及社会保障体系的同时兼顾村庄价值体系的重建。

Against the backdrop of population aging and lack of social service undertakings and infrastructure, family-based care remains the basic form of elder care in ethnic areas of China.Drawing on ethnographic research with middle-aged female caregivers in a village in Jiarong Tibetan area in western Sichuan, this study draws on the recent discussion of care in medical anthropology to examine the daily caregiving experience and meaning construction of middle-aged women in the context of economic development and rural hollowization.The article finds that, as the actual bearers of elder care in family settings, left-behind female caregivers in villages rely primarily on traditional ethics to interpret their caregiving practices.Specifically, the social expectation of “good daughters-in-law(hao xifu)” and the “intergenerational reciprocity(yi bao huan yi bao)” constitute the main source of meaning.With the hollowization of rural ethnic regions and weakened influence of local mores, middle-aged female caregivers are increasingly marginalized and face challenges to their own aging prospects.The article proposes that policies concerning eldercare in rural areas need to consider improving health care facilities and social security systems, and most importantly, rebuilding village value system.