Cortney Hughes Rinker Explores Intersections of Aging and Islam in New Chapter

Cortney Hughes Rinker Explores Intersections of Aging and Islam in New Chapter

Cortney Hughes Rinker (Director of the Global Affairs Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology) has a chapter in the volume, Anthropological Perspectives on Aging (University Press of Florida), edited by Britteny M. Howell and Ryan P. Harrod. Her chapter, “The Aging Body in Islam Exploring the Experiences of Older, Dying Muslims in the United States” is part of a volume that offers “a holistic approach to the study of aging” drawing on “biological, archaeological, medical, and cultural perspectives to explore how older adults have functioned in societies around the globe and throughout human history.” Hughes Rinker’s chapter gives a broad overview of how anthropology has addressed the intersection of religion and aging before moving into a deeper exploration of aging and Islam within the context of the United States. The second half of the chapter draws on her ethnographic research among older Muslim adults and families, as well as caregivers and religious leaders, in the Washington, DC region to argue that the changes in the human body that occur with advanced age, such as limited mobility, cognitive decline, and chronic illness, coupled with the general approach of the American health system, can prompt a reinterpretation of religious principles and sacred texts, a reevaluation of faith and belonging to the Muslim community, and contestation or transformation of religious identities. Her objective is to show that while religion can certainly influence the aging experience, the bodily changes that come with older age, particularly when the end-of-life is near, and how older adults are cared for in medical settings, can also inform religious understandings and identities.