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Children and the Politics of Cultural Belonging

Children and the Politics of Cultural Belonging

Author: Alice Hearst
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9781107017863
Published In: October 2012
Format: Hardback , 211 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Conversations about multiculturalism rarely consider the position of children, who are presumptively nested in families and communities. Yet providing care for children who are unanchored from their birth families raises questions central to multicultural concerns, as they frequently find themselves moved from communities of origin through adoption or foster care, which deeply affects marginalized communities. This book explores the debate over communal and cultural belonging in three distinct contexts: domestic transracial adoptions of non-American Indian children, the scope of tribal authority over American Indian children, and cultural and communal belonging for transnationally adopted children. Understanding how children 'belong' to families and communities requires hard thinking about the extent to which cultural or communal belonging matters for children and communities, who should have authority to inculcate racial and cultural awareness and, finally, the degree to which children should be expected to adopt and carry forward racial or cultural identities.

• Raises questions about the nature of cultural belonging and identity rights • Brings the concerns of communities into the debates over adoption and foster care • Explores the debate over communal and cultural belonging in three distinct contexts

Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	1
1 Children, Law, and Belonging	13
Attaching a Child to a Family or Community	17
The Unanchored Child	27
Disrupting Family and Group Identity	30
Children's Communal Belonging, Rights, and the Law	34
Children's Identities and Group Rights to Cultural Integrity	38
2 Community, Identity, and the Importance of Belonging	41
Belonging to Family, Community, and Nation	48
Voluntariness, Involuntariness, and Exit	51
Belonging and the Limits of Law	54
Securing Communal Values via Generational Ties	57
3 Rainbow Dreams and Domestic Transracial Adoption	61
The Assimilative Roots of Domestic Adoption Policy	68
Eclipsing the “As If” Family	73
Legislating Transracial Placements	74
Race, Culture, and Racial Culture	83
Multiracial Children and Navigating Identity	88
Innocence, Incorrigibility, and the Rhetoric of Rescue	89
Transracial Adoption and Communal Connections	95
4 Reclaiming the Diaspora and American Indian Children	102
Federal Policies from Eradication to Self-Determination	107
“Kill the Indian…and Save the Man”	113
Resurrecting Tribal Identity	120
Reclaiming Indian Children	123
Defining the Indian Child and “Indianness”	132
Sinking into a Jurisdictional Bog	142
5 Transnational Adoption in a Shifting World	146
The Global Migration of Children	153
Belonging, Roots Trips, and Cultural Connections	162
Emerging Human Rights Discourses	167
The Hague Convention and Private Law	179
The Collision Course in Transnational Adoption	183
Conclusion	186
Index	195