Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese

by Melissa K. Melby

Overview

How do we age? Why do we age? How and why does menopause happen? Do different cultures have different approaches and attitudes to, and experiences of, aging and menopause? Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese uses a biocultural framework to try to answer these questions, and gain insights on aging and menopause in Japan, the United States, and beyond.

Drawing on years of fieldwork and lab work in Japan, and over a decade of living and working in Japan at several universities and the National Institute of Health and Nutrition, with follow‑up interviews spanning over 20 years, Melissa Melby challenges what are often considered “normal” experiences of aging and menopause. This book introduces a proximate‑ultimate biocultural framework to guide the reader through questions of how (proximate) and why (ultimate) we age, and experience menopause, as we do. Drawing insights from evolutionary biology and societal‑level phenomena, and the language of lived experience, it explores how cross‑cultural variation in expectations, medicalization, collectivism, lifestyles, and other factors may influence how symptoms of aging and menopause are perceived, experienced, and treated.

Reframing Aging: Insights from Biology and Culture of Midlife Japanese offers new approaches and insightful perspectives for students of biological/cultural/medical anthropology, gerontology, Asian studies, women and gender studies, medicine, and public health.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032328584
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/10/2025
Series:	New Biological Anthropology
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Melissa K. Melby is a medical anthropologist and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Delaware, USA. She has been conducting research on biocultural understandings of, and approaches to, aging and menopause for over 25 years, with a particular focus on Japan.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction  PART I: PROXIMATE BIOLOGY  2. Proximate Biology: Introduction  3. Proximate Biology of Aging  4. Proximate Biology of Menopause  PART II: PROXIMATE CULTURAL  5. Proximate Culture: Introduction  6. Proximate Culture of Aging  7. Proximate Culture of Menopause   PART III: ULTIMATE BIOLOGICAL  8. Ultimate Biology: Introduction  9. Ultimate Biology of Aging  10. Ultimate Biology of Menopause  PART IV: ULTIMATE CULTURAL  11. Ultimate Culture: Introduction  12. Ultimate Culture of Aging  13. Ultimate Culture of Menopause  14. Questions & Future Explorations

Editorial Reviews

Melby’s book is an engaging demonstration of what holistic anthropology can do. Melby uses multiple complementary levels of analysis, integrating theoretical perspectives from biomedicine, biocultural anthropology, evolutionary biology, and public health, to prompt the reader to look at menopause and aging in a new light.”
- Karen Rosenberg, Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Delaware, USA

“Many scholars write about interdisciplinary science, but Melby’s accessible book walks the walk! She skillfully weaves insights from her participant-observer research with theory to fully articulate her comprehensive Proximate-Ultimate Biocultural framework. A must-read for all those interested in human development, culture, and their intersections.”
- Julie Hicks Patrick, Professor of Life-Span Developmental Psychology at West Virginia University, USA

From the Publisher