Abstract
Navigating the endscapes of life is unsettling, regardless of the era or location. The embodied vulnerabilities, looming limits of lifespan and healthspan, and need for social and economic resources for care, all bring existential issues to the fore. Globally circulating ideologies of healthy, successful, and active aging, often originating from the West, celebrate a presumed universally desired and achievable independence. These ideologies are inspiring to many worldwide, including in India. However, ethnography reveals that we must question the universalizing certainties of any one approach. This essay explores the theme of independence as both aspiration and impossibility in contemporary India, and how such aspirations and experiences profoundly intersect with social class. Published in the AES (American Ethnological Society) "Collections" on "Aging Globally," edited by Magdalena Zegarra Chiappori, American Ethnologist website, 7 August 2024. [https://americanethnologist.org/online-content/collections/aging-globally/independence-as-aspiration-and-impossibility-images-from-india-towards-the-ends-of-lifeby-sarah-lamb/].