Growing Old in El Barrio [Paperback]

What is daily life like for an elderly person whose income barely covers basic needs? How is life constrained if that person is living within the same marginal enclave to which she first migrated decades ago? How does the implementation of national policies and programs affect the daily life of those growing old in Spanish Harlem?
InGrowing Old in El Barrio, Judith Freidenberg addresses these questions by examining the life-course and daily experiences of the elderly residents of El Barrio. She interweaves the economy of immigrant neighborhoods with the personal experiences of Latinos aging in Harlem--such as Do?a Emiliana, who lived in Spanish Harlem from her migration in 1948 to her death in 1995. Freidenberg further links policy issues to social issues critical to the daily lives of this population.
Combining extensive fieldwork interviews with historical and demographic population data,Growing Old in El Barriopaints an ethnographic picture of aging in Spanish Harlem and illustrates the emergence of New York as a city divided by ethnicity and class.

Makes a strong case for qualitative ethnography in developing policy. Freidenberg provides an excellent balance between quantitative and qualitative research, enriching both with a project that deepens our understanding of the problems of aging migrants. Its exceptional clarity recommends it for both students and policy makers. The most important book to date on the life of urban Hispanic elderly, it provides a vivid understanding of life today in New York City's El Barrio. Freidenberg is especially successful in having the voices of her informants not only lay out the social construction of immigrant experience but using these materials to analyze the important policy implications of her work. An important contribution to the history and ethnography of El Barrio. Particularly valuable is the way in which Freidenberg humanizes her subjects who, as elderly and Latino, are often totally ignolÓÈ