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Transfers of Belonging
Child Fostering in West Africa in the 20th Century
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In Transfers of Belonging, Erdmute Alber traces the history of child fostering in northern Benin from the pre-colonial past to the present by pointing out the embeddedness of child foster practices and norms in a wider political process of change. Child fostering was, for a long time, not just one way of raising children, but seen as the appropriate way of doing so. This changed profoundly with the arrival of European ideas about birth parents being the ârightâ parents, but also with the introduction of schooling and the differentiation of life chances. Besides providing deep historical and ethnographical insights, Transfers of Belonging offers a new theoretical frame for conceptualizing parenting.
Erdmute Alber (Ph.D. 1997) is chair of Social Anthropology at Bayreuth University (Germany). She has undertaken long-term field research in West Africa, especially in northern Benin. She has directed several research projects on kinship, generational relations and child fostering in West Africa and published widely in the field of political anthropology, childhood, kinship, intergenerational relations and care.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Glossary
Introduction
âBaatombu Peasants
âNational and Regional Embeddedness
âSocial Relations
âKinship Terminology
âFieldwork and Methods
âField Research
âThick Participation
âChildhood Studies
âNorm, Practice, Emotion
1 Theoretical Approaches and Concepts on Child Fostering
âA Structural-functionalist Perspective: Parenthood and Social Reproduction
âBearing and Begetting: Birth Parenthood
âStatus Entitlement: Legal Parenthood
âNurturance, Training and Sponsorship: Social Parenthood
âDelegation of Parenthood: Types, Reasons and Functions
âDiscussion
âA Structuralist Perspective: The Circulation of Children
âDiscussion
âOther Perspectives
âThe Turn to the Actor
âTransfers of Imagined Belonging
2 Parenthood in Rural Borgu
âBirth Parenthood
âAn Open Secret
âBirth
âGiving Birth in the Health Centre
âRites of Transition
âEveryday Practices
âAcquiring Knowledge
âYearning
âHappy Foster Children
âConceptions of Parenthood
âMotherhood
âFatherhood
âChild Fostering
âDecisions
âTransferring a Child
âPossible Foster Parents
âSame Sex
âKinship
âHierarchy
âOrder of Siblings
âReasons for Child Fostering
âKinship Cohesion
âPreventing Regressive Behaviour in Children
âSocial Parenthood Supports the Hierarchies
âChildren as Workers
âChildlessness
âCrisis Fostering
âWomenâs Interests
âChild Fostering, Gender and Marriage
âExchanging Children and Women
âConflicts
âAvoidance and Indirect Communication
âOpen Conflicts
âSelf-reliance
âFoster Parents
âRunning Away
âArguments against Child Fostering
âKinship Conflicts
âSchooling
âA Bad Investment
3 Child Fostering in the Twentieth Century
âPrecolonial Times
âEveryday Realities
âViolence and Gifts
âOedipus in Africa?
âColonial Changes
âEnd of the Raids
âNew Conceptions
âSero Toro Tuunku and his Foster Son
âNew Life Courses
âChristian Missions
âThe Introduction of Schools
âState Policy
âThe Post-colonial Period
âUrban Baatombu Households
âExpansion of Educational Facilities
âBetween Town and Village: A Conflict
âChild Fostering in Urban Areas: Cotonou and Parakou
âUrban Households
âMobility and Education
âHousehold Composition
âFostering and Education
âBelonging
âWell-being
âExploitation?
âGenerations
âChild Fostering in the Villages of TÉbÉ, Kika and YarÉ
âFrequency of Child Fostering
âBirth Rate and Child Mortality
âGender
âSchooling and Fostering
âFamily Relationship between Children and their Foster Parents
âOn the threshold of the 21st Century: Two Conflicts
âRafa
âDjamila
âConclusion
Appendix
âNames and Interviews
âInterviews Cited
References
Index
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Glossary
Introduction
âBaatombu Peasants
âNational and Regional Embeddedness
âSocial Relations
âKinship Terminology
âFieldwork and Methods
âField Research
âThick Participation
âChildhood Studies
âNorm, Practice, Emotion
1 Theoretical Approaches and Concepts on Child Fostering
âA Structural-functionalist Perspective: Parenthood and Social Reproduction
âBearing and Begetting: Birth Parenthood
âStatus Entitlement: Legal Parenthood
âNurturance, Training and Sponsorship: Social Parenthood
âDelegation of Parenthood: Types, Reasons and Functions
âDiscussion
âA Structuralist Perspective: The Circulation of Children
âDiscussion
âOther Perspectives
âThe Turn to the Actor
âTransfers of Imagined Belonging
2 Parenthood in Rural Borgu
âBirth Parenthood
âAn Open Secret
âBirth
âGiving Birth in the Health Centre
âRites of Transition
âEveryday Practices
âAcquiring Knowledge
âYearning
âHappy Foster Children
âConceptions of Parenthood
âMotherhood
âFatherhood
âChild Fostering
âDecisions
âTransferring a Child
âPossible Foster Parents
âSame Sex
âKinship
âHierarchy
âOrder of Siblings
âReasons for Child Fostering
âKinship Cohesion
âPreventing Regressive Behaviour in Children
âSocial Parenthood Supports the Hierarchies
âChildren as Workers
âChildlessness
âCrisis Fostering
âWomenâs Interests
âChild Fostering, Gender and Marriage
âExchanging Children and Women
âConflicts
âAvoidance and Indirect Communication
âOpen Conflicts
âSelf-reliance
âFoster Parents
âRunning Away
âArguments against Child Fostering
âKinship Conflicts
âSchooling
âA Bad Investment
3 Child Fostering in the Twentieth Century
âPrecolonial Times
âEveryday Realities
âViolence and Gifts
âOedipus in Africa?
âColonial Changes
âEnd of the Raids
âNew Conceptions
âSero Toro Tuunku and his Foster Son
âNew Life Courses
âChristian Missions
âThe Introduction of Schools
âState Policy
âThe Post-colonial Period
âUrban Baatombu Households
âExpansion of Educational Facilities
âBetween Town and Village: A Conflict
âChild Fostering in Urban Areas: Cotonou and Parakou
âUrban Households
âMobility and Education
âHousehold Composition
âFostering and Education
âBelonging
âWell-being
âExploitation?
âGenerations
âChild Fostering in the Villages of TÉbÉ, Kika and YarÉ
âFrequency of Child Fostering
âBirth Rate and Child Mortality
âGender
âSchooling and Fostering
âFamily Relationship between Children and their Foster Parents
âOn the threshold of the 21st Century: Two Conflicts
âRafa
âDjamila
âConclusion
Appendix
âNames and Interviews
âInterviews Cited
References
Index
Besides anthropologists working on West Africa, this book should be read by all interested in kinship, childhood, child development and the history of Africa.