Katrien De Graeve

Mothering as a citizenship practice: an intersectional analysis of ‘carework’ and ‘culturework’ in non-normative mother–child identities

In this article, a comparative analysis is presented of two ethnographic case studies on mothering practices in Belgium. Interviews with, and participant observation among, both undocumented migrant mothers from the South and Belgian white adoptive mothers of black Ethiopian-born children provide an insight into the way in which mothering plays an important role in the pursuit of citizenship. In our analysis, we draw on critical theorizations of citizenship from feminist, multicultural and globalization perspectives, and of care, intimacy and the affective in order to show how mothering can be viewed as a citizenship practice that transcends boundaries of the private, public and the nation. In their ‘carework’ and ‘culturework’, both undocumented migrant and white adoptive mothers negotiate prevalent ideologies of mothering that are often exclusionary of their own and their childrens sense of identity and belonging. Their mothering involves building new networks and strengthening their childrens identities in culturally creative ways. We argue that although these mothering practices are embedded in a multiplicity of intersecting privileges and inequalities, within restraints imposed by the nation-state context, this carework attests to the agentic capacity of mothering and its potential to affect politics of inclusion, recognition and changing hegemonic understandings of citizenship and belonging.

Festive gatherings and culture work in Flemish-Ethiopian adoptive families

Although there has been growing academic interest in the tendency among transnational adoptive parents in the West to incorporate aspects of the child’s so-called ‘birth culture’ into their lives, much less attention is paid to the role that this culture work plays in families’ quest for full and good citizenship. By drawing on fieldwork among Flemish-Ethiopian adoptive families in a range of different settings, this article frames this practice as conscious and political citizenship work. Although the parenting work can open up possibilities to provide a more dynamic view on identity and citizenship, essentialist views on culture and the tendency to downplay racism and global inequalities create considerable constraints.Although there has been growing academic interest in the tendency among transnational adoptive parents in the West to incorporate aspects of the child’s so-called ‘birth culture’ into their lives, much less attention is paid to the role that this culture work plays in families’ quest for full and good citizenship. By drawing on fieldwork among Flemish-Ethiopian adoptive families in a range of different settings, this article frames this practice as conscious and political citizenship work. Although the parenting work can open up possibilities to provide a more dynamic view on identity and citizenship, essentialist views on culture and the tendency to downplay racism and global inequalities create considerable constraints.

'They have our culture': negotiating migration in Belgian–Ethiopian transnational adoption

Migration studies have so far largely failed to include transnational adoption and left the study of this phenomenon to other disciplines, such as kinship and family studies. This article aims at bridging this disciplinary divide. By looking through the lens of transnational adoption, it explores the ideological values that bolster the discourse on immigrants. Furthermore, it investigates how the migratory movement of adoptees is being negotiated in the intimate realm of the family and how the conceptualization of adoptees as immigrants/non-immigrants can be empowering or rather constraining. By doing so, the article aims both to further our understanding and theorization of the experiences and dynamics of transnational adoption and advance our insight in questions of migration and belonging in society more generally.ABSTRACT Migration studies have so far largely failed to include transnational adoption and left the study of this phenomenon to other disciplines, such as kinship and family studies. This article aims at bridging this disciplinary divide. By looking through the lens of transnational adoption, it explores the ideological values that bolster the discourse on immigrants. Furthermore, it investigates how the migratory movement of adoptees is being negotiated in the intimate realm of the family and how the conceptualization of adoptees as immigrants/non-immigrants can be empowering or rather constraining. By doing so, the article aims both to further our understanding and theorization of the experiences and dynamics of transnational adoption and advance our insight in questions of migration and belonging in society more generally.

Imageries of family and nation: A comparative analysis of transnational adoption and care for unaccompanied minors in Belgium

Drawing on empirical research completed in Belgium, this article presents a comparative analysis of the care regimes for two categories of children: transnational adoptees and unaccompanied minors. Although state immigration policies consider the two groups of minors as humanitarian exceptions that require preferential treatment, the kind of humanitarian help and social investment they are believed to deserve differs dramatically. Ideologies of relational exclusivity and fixed belonging differently structure the investment of care that the two groups are believed to need, dependent on their ability to be read as freestanding, cultureless individuals, assimilable to the host nation.

Queering the family? A multi-layered analysis of relations of inequality in transnational adoption

This paper explores the tensions between the (equal) parental right claims in adopting countries and the global inequalities in class, race and geographical location that shape transnational adoption. It uses the story told by a Belgian couple who disguised their lesbian relationship from the authorities involved to explore the narratives of child, family and nation that undergird transnational adoption. The paper discusses the potential and limits of the creation of non-traditional families for producing greater equity and significant reinterpretations of kinship and the family script. Moreover, taking into account different layers of both oppression and privilege, it discusses the ethical implications of the (queer) liberal ideologies of parental rights and Western moral superiority that prevail in transnational adoption. It argues for a shift away from the desire to create non-biological and/or non-heterosexual forms of private nuclear kinship through transnational adoption to a more profound and critical re-thinking of the (transnational) care of children, with space and acceptance for profoundly different constellations of care.This paper explores the tensions between the (equal) parental right claims in adopting countries and the global inequalities in class, race and geographical location that shape transnational adoption. It uses the story told by a Belgian couple who disguised their lesbian relationship from the authorities involved to explore the narratives of child, family and nation that undergird transnational adoption. The paper discusses the potential and limits of the creation of non-traditional families for producing greater equity and significant reinterpretations of kinship and the family script. Moreover, taking into account different layers of both oppression and privilege, it discusses the ethical implications of the (queer) liberal ideologies of parental rights and Western moral superiority that prevail in transnational adoption. It argues for a shift away from the desire to create non-biological and/or non-heterosexual forms of private nuclear kinship through transnational adoption to a more profound and critical re-thinking of the (transnational) care of children, with space and acceptance for profoundly different constellations of care.

Geographies of migration and relatedness: transmigrancy in open transnational adoptive parenting

Current transnational adoptive parenting is characterized by ambiguous practices of (1) discursively distancing adoptive children from immigrants, while (2) symbolically or actually reconnecting newly constituted families to childrens birth countries through charity and culture work. This ambiguity reveals the ubiquity of contradictory and essentialist understandings of categories of familial and national belonging. However, adoptive parents’ strategies for accommodating their childrens sense of belonging may also open up space for rethinking care and family building in transnational contexts. Using the case of a Belgian family who adopted a 12-year-old girl from Ethiopia, decided to maintain strong connections with the childs biological family, engage in charity work in Ethiopia and forge strong ties with immigrant communities in Belgium, the article explores how the concept of ‘transmigration’ may further our understanding of identity configurations within adoptive families. Furthermore, this particular case of ‘open’ transnational adoptive parenting testifies to adoptive parents’ efforts to escape from essentialist and exclusionary frameworks and create counter-spaces of multiplicity and transmigrancy in a context of severe social and economic inequality.Current transnational adoptive parenting is characterized by ambiguous practices of (1) discursively distancing adoptive children from immigrants, while (2) symbolically or actually reconnecting newly constituted families to childrens birth countries through charity and culture work. This ambiguity reveals the ubiquity of contradictory and essentialist understandings of categories of familial and national belonging. However, adoptive parents’ strategies for accommodating their childrens sense of belonging may also open up space for rethinking care and family building in transnational contexts. Using the case of a Belgian family who adopted a 12-year-old girl from Ethiopia, decided to maintain strong connections with the childs biological family, engage in charity work in Ethiopia and forge strong ties with immigrant communities in Belgium, the article explores how the concept of ‘transmigration’ may further our understanding of identity configurations within adoptive families. Furthermore, this particu...

Caringscapes and belonging: an intersectional analysis of care relationships of unaccompanied minors in Belgium

Through testimonies of guardians and young adults looking back upon their lives as unaccompanied minors in Belgium, this paper aims to obtain better understanding of the multifaceted and simultaneous intersections that shape the unaccompanied minors’ care relationships. It claims that while age as a criterion for the entitlement to care might work as an enabling structural element in the care trajectories of unaccompanied minors, the young people’s intersectional positioning as both minor and immigrant translates into a minimalistic and bureaucratic apparatus of care that often fails to accommodate the young people’s actual needs. The paper aims to explore what a focus on care relationships can offer in light of the prevalent emphasis in policy on equal rights, rationality and equal opportunities and argues that an intersectional focus on affect and relationships might need us to reconsider assumptions of just care in greater depth.