The Kinning of Foreigners: Transnational Adoption in a Global Perspective

by Signe Howell

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 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.

Genres: Adoption

276 pages, Library Binding

First published August 30, 2006

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howell argues that international adoption is possible in modern societies because the process has developed to strip adoptees of their identities so they can be 'rekinned' in their new families. She supports this thesis by examining three main analytical threads: the anthroplogy of kinship, the growth of the psychological professions and the globalization of beliefs about moral issues. This book presents an interesting perspective on the social development of international adoption. It is meant for social science scholars.