Institute of Ethnology

In the current research on media and communication, Western internet companies (e.g. Google and Facebook) are typically described as digital platforms, yet these actors increasingly rely on infrastructural properties to expand and maintain their market power. Through the case study of the Chinese social media application, WeChat, we argue that WeChat is an example of a non-Western digital media service that owes its success first to its platformization and then to the infrastructuralization of its platform model. Moreover, our findings show that the infrastructuralization of the WeChat platform model in China is shaped by markedly techno-nationalist media regulations and an increasingly overt cyber-sovereignty agenda. Drawing on the results of the analysis of technical documentation, business reports, as well as observations and interviews, we first present WeChat as both a platform and an infrastructure, and then we contextualize WeChat in the history of ICT infrastructure and the development of the internet in China. Finally, we analyze the specific role of the WeChat Pay service in establishing a new monetary transaction standard. We conclude by inquiring whether this emerging techno-nationalist model could be a plausible platform regulation in the future.

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives—an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective—offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample ( N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries.

Previous research has focused primarily on how ethnicity may trigger civil war, and its effect on conflict duration remains disputed. Rather than treating conflict as a direct consequence of ethnic cleavages, the authors argue that ethnicity per se does not affect civil war duration. Instead, its effect depends on its relationship to political institutions. They employ a dyadic approach that emphasizes the political context in which both government leaders and nonstate challengers can capitalize on the ascriptive nature of ethnicity. They show that although states can initially benefit from politicizing ethnic relations, once violent conflict breaks out, such policies may backfire on the government and make it difficult for incumbent governments to accept settlements that could terminate conflicts. Past policies of ethnic exclusion also benefit rebel organizations fighting the government, since the resulting grievances increase collective group solidarity and render individual fighters more cost tolerant. Using a new data set that codes the nexus between rebel organizations and ethnic groups, as well as information on ethnopolitical exclusion, the authors find considerable support for their propositions.

Although the case-based literature suggests that kin groups are prominent in ethnonationalist conflicts, quantitative studies of civil war onset have both overaggregated and underaggregated the role of ethnicity, by looking at civil war at the country level instead of among specific groups and by treating individual countries as closed units, ignoring groups' transnational links. In this article the authors integrate transnational links into a dyadic perspective on conflict between marginalized ethnic groups and governments. They argue that transnational links can increase the risk of conflict as transnational kin support can facilitate insurgencies and are difficult for governments to target or deter. The empirical analysis, using new geocoded data on ethnic groups on a transnational basis, indicates that the risk of conflict is high when large, excluded ethnic groups have transnational kin in neighboring countries, and it provides strong support for the authors' propositions on the importance of transnational ties in ethnonationalist conflict.

Abstract The titanates derived from α,α,α′,α′‐tetraaryl‐1,3‐dioxolane‐4,5‐dimethanols (TADDOLs, prepared from tartrate) act as catalysts for enantioselective additions of dialkylzinc compounds to aldehydes. For the standard reaction chosen for this investigation of the mechanism, the addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde, there is very little change of selectivity with different aryl substituents on the TADDOLate ligands ( Tables 2–4 , examples). With 0.02 to 0.2 equiv. of the chiral titanates, selectivities above 90% are observed only in the presence of excess tetraisopropyl titanate! According to NMR measurements ( Fig. 2 ), the chiral bicyclic titanate and the achiral titanate do not react to give new species under these conditions. From experiments with different stoichiometries of the components, and with different achiral or chiral OR groups on the Ti‐atom of the seven‐membered ring titanate, it is concluded ( i ) that a single chiral titanate is involved in the product‐forming step, ( ii ) that the bulky TADDOLate ligand renders the Ti‐center catalytically more active than that of (i‐PrO) 4 Ti, due to fast dynamics of ligand exchange on the sterically hindered Ti‐center ( Table 5, Fig. 3 ), and ( iii ) that the role of excess (i‐PrO) 4 Ti is to remove – by ligand exchange – the product alkoxides (R*O) from the catalytically active Ti‐center ( Scheme 4, Table 6 ). Three new crystal structures of TADDOL derivatives (two clathrates with secondary amines, and a dimethyl ether) have been determined by X‐ray diffraction ( Figs. 5–7 ), and are compared with those previously reported. The distances between the C(aryl) 2 O oxygen atoms in the C 2 ‐ and C 1 ‐symmetrical structures vary from 2.58 to 2.94 Å, depending upon the conformation of their dioxolane rings and the presence or absence of an intramolecular H‐bond ( Fig. 8 ). A single‐crystal X‐ray structure of a spiro‐titanate, with two TADDOLate ligands on the Ti‐atom, is described ( Fig. 9 ); it contains six different seven‐membered titanate‐ring conformations in the asymmetric unit ( Fig. 10 ), which suggests a highly flexible solution structure. The structures of Ti TADDOLate complexes are compared with those of C 2 ‐symmetrical Ru, Rh, and Pd disphosphine chelates ( Table 7 ). A common topological model is presented for all nucleophilic additions to aldehydes involving Ti TADDOLates ( Si attack with ( R , R )‐derivatives, relative topicity unlike; Fig. 11 ). Possible structures of complexes containing bidentate substrates for Ti TADDOLate‐mediated ene reactions and cycloadditions are proposed ( Fig. 12 ). A simple six‐membered ring chair‐type arrangement of the atoms involved can be used to describe the result of TADDOLate‐mediated nucleophilic additions to aldehydes and ketones, with Ti, Zr, Mg, or Al bearing the chiral ligand ( Scheme 6 ). A proposal is also made for the geometry of the intermediate responsible for enantioselective hydrogenation of N ‐(acetylamino)cinnamate catalyzed by Rh complexes containing C 2 ‐symmetrical diphosphines ( Fig. 13 ).

BACKGROUND: Asclepias curassavica Linn. is a traditional medicinal plant used by tribal people in the western ghats, India, to treat piles, gonorrhoea, roundworm infestation and abdominal tumours. We have determined the protective effect of beta-sitosterol isolated from A. curassavica in colon cancer, using in vitro and in vivo models. METHODS: The active molecule was isolated, based upon bioassay guided fractionation, and identified as beta-sitosterol on spectral evidence. The ability to induce apoptosis was determined by its in vitro antiradical activity, cytotoxic studies using human colon adenocarcinoma and normal monkey kidney cell lines, and the expression of beta-catenin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in human colon cancer cell lines (COLO 320 DM). The chemopreventive potential of beta-sitosterol in colon carcinogenesis was assessed by injecting 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH, 20 mg/kg b.w.) into male Wistar rats and supplementing this with beta-sitosterol throughout the experimental period of 16 weeks at 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg b.w. RESULTS: beta-sitosterol induced significant dose-dependent growth inhibition of COLO 320 DM cells (IC50 266.2 microM), induced apoptosis by scavenging reactive oxygen species, and suppressed the expression of beta-catenin and PCNA antigens in human colon cancer cells. beta-sitosterol supplementation reduced the number of aberrant crypt and crypt multiplicity in DMH-initiated rats in a dose-dependent manner with no toxic effects. CONCLUSION: We found doses of 10-20 mg/kg b.w. beta-sitosterol to be effective for future in vivo studies. beta-sitosterol had chemopreventive potential by virtue of its radical quenching ability in vitro, with minimal toxicity to normal cells. It also attenuated beta-catenin and PCNA expression, making it a potential anticancer drug for colon carcinogenesis.

Egypt, located on the isthmus of Africa, is an ideal region to study historical population dynamics due to its geographic location and documented interactions with ancient civilizations in Africa, Asia and Europe. Particularly, in the first millennium BCE Egypt endured foreign domination leading to growing numbers of foreigners living within its borders possibly contributing genetically to the local population. Here we present 90 mitochondrial genomes as well as genome-wide data sets from three individuals obtained from Egyptian mummies. The samples recovered from Middle Egypt span around 1,300 years of ancient Egyptian history from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period. Our analyses reveal that ancient Egyptians shared more ancestry with Near Easterners than present-day Egyptians, who received additional sub-Saharan admixture in more recent times. This analysis establishes ancient Egyptian mummies as a genetic source to study ancient human history and offers the perspective of deciphering Egypt's past at a genome-wide level.

Crop phenotyping is a major bottleneck in current plant research. Field-based high-throughput phenotyping platforms are an important prerequisite to advance crop breeding. We developed a cable-suspended field phenotyping platform covering an area of ~1ha. The system operates from 2 to 5m above the canopy, enabling a high image resolution. It can carry payloads of up to 12kg and can be operated under adverse weather conditions. This ensures regular measurements throughout the growing period even during cold, windy and moist conditions. Multiple sensors capture the reflectance spectrum, temperature, height or architecture of the canopy. Monitoring from early development to maturity at high temporal resolution allows the determination of dynamic traits and their correlation to environmental conditions throughout the entire season. We demonstrate the capabilities of the system with respect to monitoring canopy cover, canopy height and traits related to thermal and multi-spectral imaging by selected examples from winter wheat, maize and soybean. The system is discussed in the context of other, recently established field phenotyping approaches; such as ground-operating or aerial vehicles, which impose traffic on the field or require a higher distance to the canopy.

Abstract A fullerene derivative 1 of benzo[18]crown‐6 was obtained by Diels‐Alder addition of fullerene[60](C 60 ) to the ortho ‐quinodimethane prepared in situ from 4,5‐bis(bromomethyl)benzo[18]crown‐6 ( 3 ) with Bu 4 NI in toluene. Extraction experiments show that the complexation of K + ions strongly increases the solubility of 1 in protic solvents like MeOH. Using Langmuir‐Blodgett techniques, monolayers of the highly amphiphilic fullerene‐derived crown ether 1 and its K + ion complex were prepared. An X‐ray crystal structure was obtained from a benzene clathrate of comparison compound 2 , synthesized by Diels‐Alder reaction of C 60 with the ortho ‐quinodimethane derived from 1,2‐bis(bromomethyl)‐4,5‐dimethoxybenzene ( 4 ). Both the fullerene molecule 2 and the benzene molecule are fully ordered in a crystal packing which is stabilized by intermolecular van‐der‐Waals contacts between the benzene ring and the C‐spheres, intermolecular C…︁C contacts between the C 60 moieties, and intermolecular O…︁C contacts between the O‐atoms of the veratrole moieties and fullerene C‐atoms.

Abstract The macrocyclization between buckminsterfullerene, C 60 , and bis‐malonate derivatives in double Bingel reaction provides a versatile and simple method for the preparation of covalent bis‐adducts of C 60 with high regio‐ and diastereoselectivity. A combination of spectral analysis, stereochemical considerations, and X‐ray crystallography ( Fig. 2 ) revealed that out of the possible in‐in, in‐out , and out‐out stereoisomers, the reaction of bis‐malonates linked by o ‐, m ‐, or p ‐xylylene tethers afforded only the out‐out ones ( Scheme 1 ). In contrast, the use of larger tethers derived from 1,10‐phenanthroline also provided a first example, (±)‐ 19 ( Scheme 2 ), of an in‐out product. Starting from optically pure bis‐malonate derivatives, the new bis‐functionalization method permitted the diastereoselective preparation of optically active fullerene derivatives ( Schemes 4 and 5 ) and, ultimately, the enantioselective preparation (enantiomeric excess ee > 97%) of optically active cis‐3 bis‐adducts whose chirality results exclusively from the addition pattern ( Fig. 6 ). The macrocyclic fixation of a bis‐malonate with an optically active, 9,9′‐spirobi[9 H ‐fluorene]‐derived tether to C 60 under generation of 24 and ent ‐ 24 with an achiral addition pattern ( Scheme 4 ) was found to induce dramatic changes in the chiroptical properties of the tether chromophore such as strong enhancement and reversal of sign of the Cotton effects in the circular dichroism (CD) spectra ( Figs. 4 and 5 ). By the same method, the functionafized bis‐adducts 50 and 51 ( Schemes 10 and 11 ) were prepared as initiator cores for the synthesis of the fullerene dendrimers 62 , 63 , and 66 ( Schemes 12 and 13 ) by convergent growth. Finally, the new methodology was extended, to the regio‐ and diastereoselective construction of higher cyclopropanated adducts. Starting from mono‐adduct 71 , a clipping reaction provided exclusively the all‐ cis‐2 tris‐adduct (±)‐ 72 ( Scheme 14 ), whereas the similar reaction of bis‐adduct 76 afforded the all‐ cis‐2 tetrakis‐adduct 77 ( Scheme 15 ). Electrochemical investigations by steady‐state voltammetry ( Table 2 ) in CH 2 Cl 2 (+0.1M Bu 4 NPF 6 ) showed that all macroeyciic bis(methano)fullerenes underwent multiple reduction steps, and that regioisomerism was not much influencing the redox potentials, All cis‐2 bis‐adducts gave an instable dianion which decomposed during the electrochemical reduction. In CH 2 Cl 2 , the redox potential of the fullerene core in dendrimers 62, 63 , and 66 is not affected by differences in size and density of the surrounding poly(ether‐amide) dendrons. The all‐ cis‐2 tris‐ and tetrakis(meihano)fullercnes (±) ‐72 and 77 , respectively, are reduced at more negative potential than previously reported all‐ e tris‐ and tetrakis‐adducts with methane bridges that are also located along an equatorial belt. This indicates a larger perturbation of the original fullerene π‐chromophore and a larger raise in LUMO energy in the former derivatives.

Abstract There have been calls for greater inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) in applied ecosystems research and ecological assessments. The Intergovernmental Science‐Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment (GA) is the first global scale assessment to systematically engage with ILK and issues of concern to Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC). In this paper, we review and reflect on how the GA worked with ILK and lessons learned. The GA engaged in critical evaluation and synthesis of existing evidence from multiple sources, using several deliberative steps: having specific authors and questions focus on ILK; integrating inputs from ILK across all chapters; organizing dialogue workshops; issuing calls for contributions to identify other forms and systems of knowledge; and encouraging IPLC to be key stakeholders and contributors. We identify content areas where attention to ILK was particularly important for questions in applied ecology. These include: (a) enriching understandings of nature and its contributions to people, including ecosystem services; (b) assisting in assessing and monitoring ecosystem change; (c) contributing to international targets and scenario development to achieve global goals like the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Sustainable Development Goals and (d) generating inclusive and policy‐relevant options for people and nature. However, challenges in engaging different knowledge systems were also encountered. Policy implications . The Intergovernmental Science‐Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment (GA) demonstrated the importance of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLC) to global biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Initiatives seeking to engage Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) can learn from the experience of the GA. Successfully bringing ILK into assessment processes and policy arenas requires a deliberate framework and approach from the start that facilitates recognition of different knowledge systems, identifies questions relevant at various scales, mobilizes funding and recognizes time required and engages networks of stakeholders with diverse worldviews. In turn, fostering inclusion of ILK and partnering with IPLC can help future assessments understand how natural and cultural systems co‐produce each other, identify trends of change through diverse biocultural indicators and improve sustainable development goals and policies.

OBJECTIVES: Friedelin was isolated from Azima tetracantha Lam. leaves collected from Kallakurichi, Villuppuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. The anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activities of friedelin have been investigated in Wistar rats and mice. METHODS: Friedelin was isolated from the hexane extract of leaves of A. tetracantha using column chromatography. The effects of friedelin on inflammation were studied by using carrageenan-induced hind paw oedema, croton oil-induced ear oedema, acetic acid-induced vascular permeability, cotton pellet-induced granuloma and adjuvant-induced arthritis. The analgesic effect of friedelin was evaluated using the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction response, formalin-induced paw licking response and the hot-plate test. The antipyretic effect of friedelin was evaluated using the yeast-induced hyperthermia test in rats. KEY FINDINGS: In the acute phase of inflammation, maximum inhibitions of 52.5 and 68.7% (P<0.05) were noted with 40 mg/kg friedelin in carrageenan-induced paw oedema and croton oil-induced ear oedema, respectively. Administration of friedelin (40 mg/kg) significantly (P<0.05) decreased the formation of granuloma tissue induced by cotton pellet at a rate of 36.3%. In the adjuvant-induced arthritis test friedelin inhibited 54.5% of paw thickness. Friedelin inhibited acetic acid-induced vascular permeability in mice. Friedelin also produced significant (P<0.05) analgesic activity in the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction response and formalin-induced paw licking response. In the hot-plate test, friedelin did not show any significant results when compared with control. Treatment with friedelin showed a significant (P<0.05) dose-dependent reduction in pyrexia in rats. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that friedelin possessed potent anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activities.

GCN4 is a transcriptional activator in the bZIP family that regulates amino acid biosynthetic genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previous work suggested that the principal activation domain of GCN4 is a highly acidic segment of approximately 40 amino acids located in the center of the protein. We conducted a mutational analysis of GCN4 with a single-copy allele expressed under the control of the native promoter and translational control elements. Our results indicate that GCN4 contains two activation domains of similar potency that can function independently to promote high-level transcription of the target genes HIS3 and HIS4. One of these domains is coincident with the acidic activation domain defined previously; the other extends over the N-terminal one-third of the protein. Both domains are partially dependent on the coactivator protein ADA2. Each domain appears to be composed of two or more small subdomains that have additive effects on transcription and that can cooperate in different combinations to promote high-level expression of HIS3 and HIS4. At least three of these subdomains are critically dependent on bulky hydrophobic amino acids for their function. Five of the important hydrophobic residues, Phe-97, Phe-98, Met-107, Tyr-110, and Leu-113, fall within a region of proposed sequence homology between GCN4 and the herpesvirus acidic activator VP16. The remaining three residues, Trp-120, Leu-123, and Phe-124, are highly conserved between GCN4 and its Neurospora counterpart, cpc-1. Because of the functional redundancy in the activation domain, mutations at positions 97 and 98 must be combined with mutations at positions 120 to 124 to observe a substantial reduction in activation by full-length GCN4, and substitution of all eight hydrophobic residues was required to inactivate full-length GCN4. These hydrophobic residues may mediate important interactions between GCN4 and one or more of its target proteins in the transcription initiation complex.

This article examines the present mobilization of indigenous peoples in India and their assertions of indigeneity at the United Nations. The notion of ‘indigenous peoples’ is highly controversial in India, and both the government and leading social scientists/anthropologists claim that it is neither possible nor desirable to single out any such category of peoples in the country. Above all, the fear is that the indigenous rights’ agenda will lead to further divisions of the society and fuel violent ethnic separatism. This, however, does not prevent marginalized ‘tribal peoples’ from asserting themselves as indigenous and claiming rights on the basis of this identity. Particularly during the last ten years an increasing number of indigenous delegates from India have participated in the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Indigenous Populations’ annual sessions in Geneva. At the UN these delegates express solidarity and a common plight with the world’s indigenous peoples. What is this all about and how should we as anthropologists relate to the emerging globalized field of indigenous politics? These are questions I address in the article. As a minimal requirement, I claim that anthropologists need to move beyond the sterile debate about whether the concept of indigenous peoples is relevant and take note of the fact that the concept is already out there.

Even in the presence of a protic solvent (up to 20% v/v CD3OD) the optically active cyclophane tetraanion in (R,R,R,R)-1 binds to carbohydrates such as 1-O-octyl-β-D-glycopyranoside. In addition, neutral cyclophanes with similarly highly organized cavities are suitable binders in chloroform. The macrocycles are synthesized by Glaser–Hay coupling of novel chiral diethynylated 1,1'-binaphthyl monomers.

Many cross-border regions in Europe remain more political dreamscapes than examples of strong transnational integration.The development of the Öresund region through a bridge linking Copenhagen and eastern Denmark with Southern Sweden has been seen as a model for EU region building. Drawing on a multidisciplinary project, this article uses the Öresund case as a starting point, bringing in some contrastive Scandinavian examples. The aim is to discuss how regions try to make themselves visible and attractive for investments and visitors, but above all to what extent they produce regionauts actively creating integration by different border-crossing activities and contacts. The focus is on the cultural dimensions found in everyday practices and symbolic manifestations of these transnational processes. What kind of gaps between regional rhetoric and actual mundane activities emerge? A historical perspective is used to illustrate these changing border dynamics in which cultural, political and economic asymmetries often become an energizing factor.

Two facial models corresponding to two deceased subjects have been manually created and the two corresponding skulls have been dissected and skeletonized. These pairs of skull/ facial data have been scanned with a CT scanner, and the computed geometric three-dimensional models of both skulls and facial tissue have been built. One set of skull/facial data will be used as a reference set whereas the second set is used as ground truth for validating our method. After a semi-automatic face-skull registration, we apply an original computing global parametric transformation T that turns the reference skull into the skull to be reconstructed. This algorithm is based upon salient lines of the skull called crest lines: more precisely the crest lines of the first skull are matched to the crest lines of the second skull by an iterative closest point algorithm. Then we apply this algorithm to the reference face to obtain the "unknown" face to be reconstructed. The reliability and difficulties of this original technique are then discussed.

Most hospital studies of measles mortality suggest that high case fatality ratios are associated with malnutrition. However, no community study has documented this association. On the contrary, several community studies from Africa and Asia have found no relation between nutritional status and risk of severe or fatal measles. Instead, overcrowding and intensive exposure may be more important determinants of measles mortality. Clustering of several cases in the family and/or intensive exposure were associated with high measles mortality in community studies in West Africa, Bangladesh, and England. Thus sociocultural factors that concentrate many susceptible children in the home may increase the case-fatality ratio in measles. Conversely, this ratio will be lower when measles cases are dispersed. Siblings in rural areas, where long intervals separate epidemics, run a higher risk of contracting measles simultaneously than do their urban counterparts. Measles vaccination increases herd immunity and diminishes the clustering of several cases in a family. Vaccination may therefore reduce mortality even among unvaccinated children who contract measles. Crowding and intensive exposure may partly explain regional and historical variations in measles mortality; community studies suggest that mortality is high when a high proportion of measles patients have secondary cases (acquired through exposure at home).

Abstract The suitors' ownership of land influenced the marriage age of the women in the Krummhörn population (Germany, 1720–1874). This led to a characteristic distribution of the categories of land ownership of husbands by the wife's age at marriage: the younger the brides, the higher was the percentage of high‐status males among their bridegrooms. But the natal status of brides did not exert any significant influence on their age at marriage. Moreover, socially hypergamous women married younger than those whose marriage meant a social drop. We have interpreted these findings as the expression of a conditional female choice strategy with age‐dependent decrease in demands on a marriage partner: “If you are young, be very choosy and marry only a high‐quality mate; the older you become, the more you must reduce your initial standards!” On the average this strategy was adaptive, because in this population land ownership correlated with the local reproductive success of a family.

This article analyses old-age security policy in South Africa within the wider context of social policy in twentieth-century South Africa. It focuses on old-age pensions as the major part of welfare provision for the elderly. Two main questions are addressed (1) Why did South Africa introduce old-age pensions for aged white elderly in 1928 and why did it broaden the system to include Africans in 1944? (2) What were the main economic and social consequences of this law, especially for Africans in rural communities, with particular reference to the mid-century Eastern Cape? It is argued that South African old-age pension policy was, inter alia , shaped by three factors: (1) capitalist industrialisation mediated by the character of existing public social provision and ‐ with regard to Africans ‐ segregationist policies; (2) cultural and ideological shifts; (3) class politics. As a consequence of state initiative, from an early stage, pension money became decisive for the economic survival of many African rural households and contributed indirectly to the increased self-respect and social status of African old-age pensioners. The linking of old-age pensions to chronological age did not lead to the emergence of old age as a chronologically-defined stage of life because pre industrial life-course models organised around the notion of 'building the umzi (homestead)' were still very much alive. Finally, it is argued that from its inception, the South African state welfare policy had some ageist aspects to it. The article concludes that the political economy approach to ageing cannot fully account for the complexities of the ageing experience in South Africa.