Somebody's Children

The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoption

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Women&, Sociology
Cover of the book Somebody's Children by Laura Briggs, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laura Briggs ISBN: 9780822394952
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: March 7, 2012
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Laura Briggs
ISBN: 9780822394952
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: March 7, 2012
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

In Somebody's Children, Laura Briggs examines the social and cultural forces—poverty, racism, economic inequality, and political violence—that have shaped transracial and transnational adoption in the United States during the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first. Focusing particularly on the experiences of those who have lost their children to adoption, Briggs analyzes the circumstances under which African American and Native mothers in the United States and indigenous and poor women in Latin America have felt pressed to give up their children for adoption or have lost them involuntarily.

The dramatic expansion of transracial and transnational adoption since the 1950s, Briggs argues, was the result of specific and profound political and social changes, including the large-scale removal of Native children from their parents, the condemnation of single African American mothers in the context of the civil rights struggle, and the largely invented "crack babies" scare that inaugurated the dramatic withdrawal of benefits to poor mothers in the United States. In Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina, governments disappeared children during the Cold War and then imposed neoliberal economic regimes with U.S. support, making the circulation of children across national borders easy and often profitable. Concluding with an assessment of present-day controversies surrounding gay and lesbian adoptions and the struggles of immigrants fearful of losing their children to foster care, Briggs challenges celebratory or otherwise simplistic accounts of transracial and transnational adoption by revealing some of their unacknowledged causes and costs.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Somebody's Children, Laura Briggs examines the social and cultural forces—poverty, racism, economic inequality, and political violence—that have shaped transracial and transnational adoption in the United States during the second half of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first. Focusing particularly on the experiences of those who have lost their children to adoption, Briggs analyzes the circumstances under which African American and Native mothers in the United States and indigenous and poor women in Latin America have felt pressed to give up their children for adoption or have lost them involuntarily.

The dramatic expansion of transracial and transnational adoption since the 1950s, Briggs argues, was the result of specific and profound political and social changes, including the large-scale removal of Native children from their parents, the condemnation of single African American mothers in the context of the civil rights struggle, and the largely invented "crack babies" scare that inaugurated the dramatic withdrawal of benefits to poor mothers in the United States. In Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina, governments disappeared children during the Cold War and then imposed neoliberal economic regimes with U.S. support, making the circulation of children across national borders easy and often profitable. Concluding with an assessment of present-day controversies surrounding gay and lesbian adoptions and the struggles of immigrants fearful of losing their children to foster care, Briggs challenges celebratory or otherwise simplistic accounts of transracial and transnational adoption by revealing some of their unacknowledged causes and costs.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book The Bible in the Sixteenth Century by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Politics with Beauvoir by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Murder by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Stuart Hall's Voice by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book In Sierra Leone by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Imposing Harmony by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Making Men by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Left of Karl Marx by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Reproducing Jews by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Working Like a Homosexual by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book After War by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Every Last Tie by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book The Weather in Proust by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book Archipelagic American Studies by Laura Briggs
Cover of the book American Empire and the Politics of Meaning by Laura Briggs
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy