Date: June 30th, Friday, 2023, 9:00 – 11:00 AM BJT

Zoom: 923 9359 6821; Passcode: 0630

Speaker: Yan Zhang, Ph.D., Incoming Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Aging and Care

Abstract: The construct of gerontechnology has attracted a lot of attention in both research and social practice. As it proliferates globally, so has the reflection on what this concept entails. In this presentation, Zhang will trace the technological and the structural approaches to gerontechnology by highlighting the limitations such as viewing aging as “problems” and technology as “interventions” – and the interpretive approach which underscores the micro-level social dimensions of aging and technology yet ignores the macro-level issues such as digital gaps in our society. Building upon social scientists’ notions of aging as a social and interpretive experience that involves cultural meanings, political economy, historical contexts, etc., Zhang elaborates the conceptual model – social technology, which was originally proposed by the Harvard research team in 2021 – and its potential to address the gaps between the design of technology and users’ experience, between technologies for profits and those for public goods and social services, and between social groups in terms of access to technology. Lastly, using part of her fieldwork data in 2017 and the recent development of gerontechnology in China, Zhang suggests anthropological voices are essential to bring the multiple dimensions of aging with technology research and practice.

Bio: Zhang graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a Ph.D. degree in anthropology in 2020. From May 2021 to November 2022, she served as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University. During this period, she worked with an interdisciplinary research team on a project called “Social Technology and Global Aging,” which was mainly funded by the Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute.

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NACI—the N Aging and Care Initiative

N represents Nameless, Nest, and Population

The NACI aspires to reshape the landscape of aging and care in China and strives to create a society that recognizes the inherent worth of every aging and dying individual, fostering an environment where care is a deeply cherished and respected value, providing a nurturing nest for all.