Complaint Discourse Analysis

Complaining is an integral part of the Ju/’hoansi way of life—especially high among Ju/’hoansi elders since it elicits and ensures supportive behavior from younger people to care for their elders. Personally, I think that the Ju/’hoansi people do not follow patterns of caregiving familiar in North American society, and their management of care for the elderly differs significantly from ours.

Within the Ju/’hoansi culture, a “stream of complaints” from elders towards caregivers is viewed as “custom,” and is a seen as a particular attribute of old age.1 The elders’ complaints criticize hoarding and stinginess. Also, their complaints establish caregiving responsibilities, and forms a social contract that reinforces those obligations. In chapter
The nagging style is described as elders constantly complaining/nagging at their family for neglecting and not providing them with sufficient care. Author, Richard B. Lee, uses an example to describe the broad melodrama style. Kasupe, a Ju/’hoan elder, tells a story about the time he became injured and his family didn’t provide him with sufficient care, however, when presented with evidence that proved his family did not neglect him, Kasupe expressed no regret for making the false accusations.2 Even though some elders make statements accusing their caretakers of neglect, and abandonment (such as
Lee says, “it was not gender that divided the population between active caregivers and delinquents.”3 Feminization of caregiving is not present among the Ju/’hoansi culture, and both females and males can be observed providing the same level of care for their