Belonging in an adopted world : race, identity, and transnational adoption

261 Pages·2010·2.11 MB·English

by  Barbara Yngvesson

Belonging in an Adopted World
The Chicago Series in Law and Society
Edited by John M. Conley and Lynn Mather
Also in the series:
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by Kitty Calavita
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the Legalistic State
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Arguing with Tradition: The Language of Law in Hopi Tribal Court
by Justin B. Richland
Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice
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Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law
into Social Justice
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Just Words, Second Edition: Law, Language, and Power
by John M. Conley and William M. O’Barr
Distorting the Law: Politics, Media, and the Litigation Crisis
by William Haltom and Michael McCann
Justice in the Balkans: Prosecuting War Crimes in the Hague Tribunal
by John Hagan
Rights of Inclusion: Law and Identity in the Life Stories of Americans
with Disabilities
by David M. Engel and Frank W. Munger
The Internationalization of Palace Wars: Lawyers, Economists, and the
Contest to Transform Latin American States
by Yves Dezalay and Bryant G. Garth
Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft
Resisters in World War II
by Eric L. Muller
Additional series titles follow index.
Belonging in an Adopted World
Race, Identity, and
Transnational Adoption
Barbara Yngvesson
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
Barbara Yngvesson is professor of anthro- Library of Congress
pology at Hampshire College, the author or Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
coauthor of two previous volumes, and an
associate editor at American Anthropologist. Belonging in an adopted world :
race, identity, and transnational adoption /
The University of Chicago Press, Barbara Yngvesson.
Chicago 60637 p.(cid:4)cm. — (The Chicago series in law
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London and society)
©(cid:2)2010 by The University of Chicago Includes bibliographical references and index.
All rights reserved. Published 2010 ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 96446- 1 (cloth : alk. paper)
Printed in the United States of America ISBN- 10: 0- 226- 96446- 9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 96447- 8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10(cid:4)(cid:4)1 2 3 4 5 ISBN- 10: 0- 226- 96447- 7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Intercountry adoption. 2. Interracial adop-
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 96446- 1 (cloth) tion. 3. Interethnic adoption. 4. Intercountry
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 96447- 8 (paper) adoption—Law and legislation. 5. Inter-
ISBN- 10: 0- 226- 96446- 9 (cloth) country adoption—Sweden. 6. Intercountry
ISBN- 10: 0- 226- 96447- 7 (paper) adoption—India. I. Yngvesson, Barbara, 1941–
II. Series: Chicago series in law and society.
HV875.5.B44 2010
362.734—dc22
2009029586
o The paper used in this publication meets
the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992.
For my son, Finn
and
In memory of my mother, Julia Belton

Contents
Acknowledgments / ix
A Letter / 1 Prologue / 3
1 • The Safehouse of Identity / 11
2 • The Only Thing We Can Give Away Is Children / 39
3 • National Resources / 59
4 • A Child of Any Color / 89
5 • Early Disturbances / 105
6 • The Body within the Body / 123
7 • Return / 144
Epilogue / 173 Appendix / 177
Notes / 185 References / 211 Index / 227

Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to the individuals and organizations whose generos-
ity made this work possible. Many of the people mentioned here provided
me with hours of taped interviews over a period of years and graciously
allowed me to take part in workshops, conferences, and a range of meet-
ings involving adoption organizations and children’s homes, representa-
tives of receiving and sending nations, and the concerns of transnational
adoptees. I could not have carried out the research without their interest
and engagement; however, they do not endorse this project or the analysis
I present here.
I am especially indebted to Adoption Centre (AC) in Stockholm, Swe-
den, which provided the ethnographic starting point for my research, and
to Gunilla Andersson, Annika Grünewald, Ann-C harlotte Gudmundsson,
Eva Hedén, Monica Lind, Birgitta Löwstedt, and Elisabet Sandberg, who
responded to my questions and in some cases spent weeks in my company
visiting children’s homes in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and India.
Annika, Gunilla, and Monica opened their homes to me, as well as provid-
ing invaluable information and support. I am grateful to Elisabet Sandberg,
administrative director of AC during the fi rst period of my research, who
shared her extensive knowledge of Swedish and international adoption law
with me and arranged for presentations of my work at adoption-r elated
events in Stockholm, including a stimulating and productive seminar in
2006 at Stockholm University, as a guest of professor of ethnology Lena
Gerholm. Eva Hedén and Elisabet Sandberg also helped me obtain permis-
sions for illustrations in the book. And I appreciate Ewa Westman’s highly
professional and sensitive transcription of my Swedish interviews.
Although the base of my research was in Sweden, I also spent many
weeks in India and South America, accompanying staff of AC on trips to
children’s homes and visits to aid projects funded by the Swedish Interna-
tional Development Agency. I am grateful to individuals and organizations
in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai, and particularly to
Nom ita Chandy, secretary of the Ashraya Children’s Home in B angalore;