Lifelines

Life Lines is an ethnographic exploration of elder care as a creative and relational process, centred on the author’s journey caring for his aging father. Over five years, these shared moments opened up new understandings of his father’s inner world, revealing the social and personal forces that shaped his life, dreams, and disappointments.

Blending personal narrative with ethnographic insight, Life Lines invites readers to reflect on the profound and often challenging journey of caring for an aging parent. As generations age and more families navigate the realities of advanced old age, this book offers a hopeful vision: caregiving can be more than a duty it can become an opportunity for parents and adult children to forge deeper, more emotionally enriching relationships.

Through art, conversation, and shared discovery, Life Lines shows how we can move beyond care fatigue and disconnection, transforming the later years of life into a time of renewed connection, understanding, and appreciation.

Author Biography

Joshua Hotaka Roth is Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, author of the award-winning Brokered Homeland, and a leading scholar on migration, mobility, and aging in Japan.