Casey Golomski, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire, unpacks his enlightening book, 'God's Waiting Room'. He reveals the intriguing dynamics between older white residents and younger Black caregivers in a post-apartheid South African nursing home. The conversation dives into themes of racial reckoning, ageism, and the complexities of care in a historically charged environment. Golomski also discusses the impact of systemic inequalities on healthcare and the powerful stories that emerge from these intimate interactions.
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Golomski's Background
Casey Golomski's academic work focuses on end-of-life issues and death and dying in Southern Africa.
He also wrote Funeral Culture: AIDS, Work, and Cultural Change in an African Kingdom.
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Fieldwork Site
Golomski conducted fieldwork at an elderly home called "Grace" in South Africa.
The home housed mostly white residents, reflecting South Africa's demographics and history.
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Inequalities in Elder Care
While aging is universal, racial differences shape experiences in elder care.
Golomski's book explores these inequalities in post-apartheid South Africa.
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AIDS Work and Cultural Change in an African Kingdom
Casey Golomski
God's Waiting Room
God's Waiting Room
Casey Golomski
Casey Golomski's *God's Waiting Room* offers a poignant exploration of race, aging, and healthcare in post-apartheid South Africa. Through intimate conversations with residents and staff of an elderly care facility, the book unveils the complex interplay of ageism, sexism, and racism within the healthcare system. The narrative structure, resembling a room-by-room tour, creates an immersive experience for the reader. The book challenges preconceived notions about aging and racism, highlighting the unexpected connections formed between residents and caregivers despite societal divisions. Golomski's work prompts reflection on the human condition and the complexities of interracial relationships in a deeply racialized society.
Can older racists change their tune, or will they haunt us further once they're gone? Rich in mystery and life's lessons, God's Waiting Room: Racial Reckoning at Life's End(Rutgers University Press, 2024)considers what matters in the end for older white adults and the younger Black nurses who care for them. An innovation in creative nonfiction, Casey Golomski's story of his years of immersive research at a nursing home in South Africa, thirty years after the end of apartheid, is narrated as a one-day, room-by-room tour. The story is told in breathtakingly intimate and witty conversations with the home's residents and nurses, including the untold story of Nelson Mandela's Robben Island prison nurse, and readers learn how ageism, sexism, and racism intersect and impact health care both in South Africa and in the United States, as well as create conditions in which people primed to be enemies find grace despite the odds.
Casey Golomski is an associate professor of anthropology and women's and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire in Durham and lives in Medford, Massachusetts. He is the author of Funeral Culture: AIDS, Work, and Cultural Change in an African Kingdom.
Reighan Gillamis Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press).
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