When Legends Fall Silent Our Ways Are Lost: Some Dimensions of the Study of Aging among Native Canadians

Abstract

This discussion of some of the dimensions of the study of aging among Native Canadians leans heavily upon Holzberg (1981). I refer to two dimensions that she has identified (lack of homogeneity in ethnic categories and the situational environment) and indicate how these are relevant in regard to Native people. I discuss urbanization as a third dimension, and present an ethnographic example that can be related to all three dimensions. This example is also shown to be relevant to the modernization theory of aging.