Abstract
In rural towns of Ghana’s Eastern Region, older adults express curiosity about Western facilities for seniors such as care homes—where older adults reside permanently—and senior day programs—where they come for the day for activities and meals. This paper argues that aging is a site of cultural innovation; in this case, ideas and practices imported from abroad like care homes are reworked in local imaginaries to speak to local concerns, including a critique of the state. Supporting James Ferguson’s recent argument that new social welfare practices and rights are gaining traction in Africa, it illustrates how older adults in Ghana are articulating a vision of a caring nation, as they confront the aging process and cope with changing aging trajectories and intergenerational reciprocities.