The kinning of foreigners : transnational adoption in a global perspective

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Bibliographic Information

The kinning of foreigners : transnational adoption in a global perspective

Signe Howell

Berghahn Books, 2007, c2006

  • pbk.

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. [235]-244

Includes index

First published in 2006

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Since the late nineteen sixties, transnational adoption has emerged as a global phenomenon. Due to a sharp decline in infants being made available for adoption locally, involuntarily childless couples in Western Europe and North America who wish to create a family, have to look to look to countries in the poor South and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this book is to locate transnational adoption within a broad context of contemporary Western life, especially values concerning family, children and meaningful relatedness, and to explore the many ambiguities and paradoxes that the practice entails. Based on empirical research from Norway, the author identifies three main themes for analysis: Firstly, by focusing on the perceived relationship between biology and sociality, she examines how notions of child, childhood and significant relatedness vary across time and space. She argues that through a process of kinning, persons are made into kin. In the case of adoption, kinning overcomes a dominant cultural emphasis placed upon biological connectedness. Secondly, it is a study of the rise of expert knowledge in the understanding of 'the best interest of the child', and how the part played by the 'psycho.technocrats' effects national and international policy and practice of transnational adoption. Thirdly, it shows how transnational adoption both depends upon and helps to foster the globalisation of Western rationality and morality. The book is an original contribution to the anthropological study of kinship and globalisation.

Table of Contents

List of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgements PART I: ADOPTION - BIOLOGY OR SOCIALITY? Chapter 1. Desire and Rights: Transnational Movement of Substances and Concepts Chapter 2. A Changing World of Families: An Overview Chapter 3. Kinship with Strangers: Values and Practices of Adoption Chapter 4. Kinning and Transubstantiation: Norwegianisation of Adoptees Chapter 5. Expert Knowledge: The Role of Psychology in Adoption Discourses Chapter 6. Who Am I, Then? Adoptees' Perspectives on Identity and Ethnicity PART II: GOVERNMENTALITY AND THE ROLE OF PSYCHO-TECHNOCRATS Chapter 7. Benevolent Control: Adoption Legislation in the USA and Norway Chapter 8. Benevolent Control: International Treaties on Adoption Chapter 9. Expert Knowledge: Global and Local Adoption Discourses in India, Ethiopia, China and Romania Chapter 10. In Conclusion: To Kin a Foreign Child Postscript: A Note on Methods Bibliography Index

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