From primal to colonial wound: Bolivian adoptees reclaiming the narrative of healing

Abstract

This paper provides a critical analysis of the narratives of Bolivian adoptees in Belgium. We discuss how the adoptees look back upon the imagery of family and culture invoked by their parents and wider social environment and how this imagery has affected their sense of self and belonging. We argue that the adoptees' narratives testify of a discursive struggle to reclaim control over their lives and histories. While they draw upon prevailing discourses that tend to imagine adoptees as 'wounded', they do so in diverse, complex and at times contradictory ways. Their perceptions of the familial and cultural imagery show that while they do not entirely reject the idea of being hurt, they seem to make a shift from explaining this 'wound' in individualpsychological terms to explaining it in social terms, making use of emerging anti-racist and decolonial perspectives.

The Complexities of Mixed Families: Transracial Adoption as a Humanitarian Project

“…Similarly, families formed through transracial adoption must contend with familial experiences that challenge ideologies that families must be linked by racial lineage, resemblance, and biological relationships (Goss 2018). Scholarly works on transracial adoption have proliferated in recent years, with research spanning a wide-range of adoption contexts, including within countries in Africa (Luyt and Swartz 2021), Asia (Heimsoth and Laser 2008;Johnson 2002), Europe (Ferrari and Rosnati 2013;Howell 2006;San Román and Rotabi 2019;Wyver 2019Wyver , 2021Yngvesson 2000Yngvesson , 2012, and South America (Cawayu and De Graeve 2020;Fonseca 2002).…”

“…In this vein, a growing number of scholarly projects acknowledge the role that humanitarianism plays within the practice of transracial adoption. This research has documented how members of transracial families understand adoption as a humanitarian act, including adoptees (Cawayu and De Graeve 2020), adoptive parents (Khanna and Killian 2015;Zhang and Lee 2011), and adoption workers (Raleigh 2017). Whereas some of this literature reports that transracial family members view transracial adoption as a charitable practice that affords children opportunities and access to material, emotional, and social resources that they would otherwise lack (Khanna and Killian 2015;Wyver 2021), others highlight the experiences of transracial family members that view transracial adoption as an inherently unequal act that takes children away from their communities, families, and cultures of origin (Cawayu and De Graeve 2020).…”

Relational–Cultural Theory: A Supportive Framework for Transracial Adoptive Families

“…Colonization describes those acts by the Western European dominant group that oppress indigenous populations and suppress their civilization, to include language, customs, and spiritual beliefs (Hernández-Wolf, 2011). Several scholars suggested transracial adoption is an extension of colonization, where White adopters from colonizing nations adopt children of color from colonized nations (Cawayu & De Graeve, 2020;Kendi, 2020, Schwartz & Schwartz, 2018. Through forced assimilation, the adopted children subsequently lose their connections to the cultural, racial, and ethnic communities (Baden, Treweeke, & Alhuwalia, 2012).…”

‘I prefer not to know’: Spain’s management of transnational adoption demand and signs of corruption

“…Some works have also looked at the way the perpetuation of colonial legacies and the way they permeate hegemonic discourses and practices, cut across the way adopted people make sense of their adoption histories and construct their identities (e.g. Cawayu and De Graeve, 2020).…”