Where do the old folks live? The residence of the elderly among the Temne of Sierra Leone.

This article deals with the residence patterns of the elderly, defined as those aged 60 and older, among the Temne of Sierra Leone, West Africa. The primary data bases consist of ethnographic information, the writer's censuses taken in what was the chiefdom of Kolifa Mayoso in 1955, 1963 and 1976 and in the administrative, service-center town of Magburaka, some fifteen miles from Kolifa Mayoso in 1963 and 1976. Concern is thus with rural changes, urban changes and rural-urban differences in residence from a household perspective. Special emphasis is placed on the composition of the elderly cohort in terms of sex, marital status, household headship or relation to the household head, the life-styles of the elderly, and on how the elderly see themselves and how they are seen by their juniors.