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Dr. Phoebe Liebig Reports on Fulbright Activity in India

Dr. Phoebe Liebig never intended to be an “expert” on Indian gerontology, but after returning from a five week trip this spring for her second Fulbright Award in which she provided technical assistance and conducted research there, she accepts the role by default.

“With the globalization of aging as well as everything else, people seek me out when they want to talk about India,” said Dr. Liebig, who is retiring this August after 33 years at the USC Davis School. 

It has been reported that India will overtake China as the world’s most populous nation by 2050.  In a country with no form of universal social security, there is very little public assistance for a growing number of low-income elders or those without a family to provide care. 

“Only the poorest qualify for the minimum of government assistance, and they will get a maximum of four or five dollars a month,” she said.

In Indian tradition, the wife of the eldest son is expected to take care of the family, yet there is a great deal of movement from rural to urban settings, which makes this custom difficult to uphold.  First born sons, seeking more money and better lives, are taking their families and migrating towards the urban centers of India and throughout the world to oil states, the United States and the United Kingdom.  Currently, 70 percent of seniors in India live in rural areas and according to Dr. Liebig, most do not want to move to cities where housing is expensive and the urban lifestyle is unfamiliar. 

With the looming predicament of an increased aging population and the lack of governmental or institutional support exacerbating the dilemma of first born sons unable to preside over care of their families, social workers have been involved in community development in rural areas.  Their focus has been on the emancipation of women in poor communities in order to more effectively deal with social dysfunctions, especially those problems associated with the elderly.

“If you provide some literacy to women, all the quality of life indicators go up,” Dr Liebig said.  

This is where the focus of Dr. Liebig’s research came into play at Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam, an all-women’s university in the city of Tirupati, near Madras, where it was above 98 degrees every day with no air conditioning.  Frequent power cuts meant no fans either.  “It was hotter than blue blazes,” she jibed.

But the work was serious, and the 73 year-old, who began her career as a grant writer and planner for the USC Andrus Gerontology Center while earning her Ph.D. in public administration, crammed an incredible work load into five short weeks. 

Her first priority was to review the school’s curriculum in order to infuse more lifespan issues into all their courses and to help redesign their class on social work with the elderly.  Then she surveyed the books in the school’s library, paying particular attention to Indian research rather than studies conducted in the western world. 

“Unfortunately, they don’t have access to research going on in other parts of their own country.  I was concerned about community development specifically in an Indian context,” said Dr. Liebig.

She also wrote a grant in order to provide a framework for the school’s social work department to procure future funding.  She offered workshops for faculty on nutrition, home science and women’s studies.  And she wrote a journal article on U.S. tax policies and the economic well-being of the elderly with implications for India’s policies. 

“It (the Fulbright) provides opportunities for the people I work with to take what they have learned and to apply it,” Dr. Liebig said.

At a conference in Bhubaneshwar, India (1,200 kilometers from Tirupati) she presented on U.S. policies that support psychosocial care of the aged.  Dr. Liebig also lectured to undergraduate and graduate students at both Sri Padmavati University and in the department of psychology at the nearby Sri Venkateswara University.

She even appeared on local television, comparing the experiences of women in the U.S. and India for a newscast on International Women’s Day.

“Some women have just as much difficulty (in the U.S.) as women in India,” she told the correspondent.  She added that women work for lower wages than men in the U.S., have different career opportunities and are also expected to care for families.

Somehow, Dr. Liebig found the time to collaborate on a book project entitled Gerontology in the Future, with her colleague Jamuna Duvvuru at Sri Venkateswara University.

One might think she would be slowing down with her forthcoming retirement, but her obligations as a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award winner keep her duty-bound through 2009.  If she’s called upon by her associates in her host country, Dr. Liebig could be returning to India next year and then again the year after that and so on.

“The Fulbright program is an incredible opportunity,” she said.  “It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

Dr. Liebig taught high school and was a software developer before she moved on to higher education.  She calls her work as a professor of gerontology at the USC Davis School and her journeys to India as a Fulbright Fellow part of her third career, one that will last as long as she wants.  

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“The Fulbright program is an incredible opportunity,” she said. “It’s one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

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