Subjecthood matters: Autoethnography of caring for father with dementia under rural constraints
Oct 22 2025Rogozin D. М. Subjecthood matters: Autoethnography of caring for father with dementia under rural constraints // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №3. P. 289-305.
EDN: PTBHWG
Annotation
The article presents a deeply personal and scientifically grounded analysis of caring for an aging parent with progressive dementia in rural Russia. Based on the experience of caring for his father in the town of Abaza (Khakassia), the author shows the complex interplay of administrative, social and cultural factors that determine the quality of palliative and long-term care in rural areas. Although Abaza has a city status, it is rather a rural settlement with a shortage of medical and social resources, close community ties, widespread subsistence farming, and weak institutional support. The author describes how these “rural constraints” both complicate caring and develop a specific care culture in which professional assistance often turns into the formal performance of duties, ignoring the patient’s subjecthood. Under the crisis caused by his father’s deteriorating condition, the author shows how a return to a person-centered approach (negotiated actions, respected individuality and emotional engagement) can restore the patient’s speech, mobility, and dignity. The author emphasizes that dementia does not eliminate subjecthood but demands to rethink care practices. The article calls for a paradigm shift: from efficiency and bureaucratic regulation toward reflexivity, ethics of care and recognition of the elder as full-fledged subjects, regardless of cognitive impairment or geographical location.
Keywords
Autoethnography, dementia, long-term care, rural constraints, social isolation, sociology of aging, subjecthood, person-centered approach, ethics of care.
About the author
Dmitry М. Rogozin, PhD (Sociology), Head of the Field Research Laboratory, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prechistenskaya Nab., 11, bldg. 1, Moscow, 119034, Russia.
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Additional Info
- Submitted Wednesday, 23 July 2025
- Reviewed Friday, 15 August 2025
- Copyright © Auhtors, 2025
- Distribution Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Rogozin D.M. Challenges and prospects of rural aging // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2018. V.3. №2. P. 86-101.
DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2018-3-2-86-101
Annotation
Of the three large-scale studies conducted by the Institute of Social Analysis and Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the author selected eight most significant manifestations of rural aging and divided them into two groups. The first group presents limitations, while the second — opportunities for aging in the countryside. Elderly villagers, as a rule, do not work, do not study, do not travel, and are sick — these are the restrictions. But they manage the household, take care of themselves, move and keep intimate relationships — these are opportunities. Most limitations and opportunities make pairs. For instance, elderly villagers do not work but manage the household; do not travel, but move; get sick, but keep intimate relationships and take care of their bodies. Only the lack of educational opportunities does not have a positive pair in rural areas. The author believes that continuous education can become a main factor of active aging, that is why it should become an integral part of social policies.
Keywords
Aging studies, life-long learning, illness, variety of aging, education, rural aging, sexuality, sociology of aging, old age.
About the author
Dmitry М. Rogozin, PhD (Sociology), Head of Laboratory for Social Research Methodology, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Address: 119034, Moscow, Prechistenskaya Nab.,1.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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