Severed threads, enduring ties. An anthropological exploration of the competing imaginaries of inter-country adoption from Ethiopia

This study is an anthropological exploration of inter-country adoption in Ethiopia. Moving from an Ethio-centred perspective, the research aims to disentangle how inter-country adoption is differently perceived and enacted depending on the positioning of the actors involved. When approaching this cross-cultural phenomenon, it becomes evident that Global North and South interpretations clash, and this mismatching produces multiple effects onto the adoptive triad, namely the adoptee, the native family, and the adoptive family.

While transracial inter-country adoption is highly debated from a Global North perspective, little has been explored on the ramifications of cross-cultural child mobility. To date, the entanglement between Ethiopian-based knowledges on child circulation and inter-country adoption remains uncharted territory.

This investigation delves into such ground to determine whether in Ethiopia it exists a conceptual correlation between a) customary and inter-country adoption; b) the choice to give a child for adoption; and c) post-adoption expectations.

Fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ethiopia shed light on inter-country adoption as a circular relational process of kin separation, transfer, reconnection, and reconfiguration. The thesis reconceptualises adoption processes moving from the epistemic knowledge of the participants, who comprised native and adoptive families, adoptees, intermediaries, staff from childcare institutions and adoption agencies, and other key informants.

The main finding is that amongst Ethiopian families it prevails the idea of inter-country adoption as intended to strengthen kin ties and diversify family collective's migration strategies. Conversely, the narrative that prevails in the Global North does not entail contact with the native family nor the return of the adopted person to her country of origin. This contrasting imaginary of adoption crucially impacts on post-adoption dynamics. Eventually, this study emphasises that inter-country adoption in Ethiopia primarily accommodated the Global North imperatives rather than making the process socially just for native families. The lack of a body entitled to provide post-adoption support to native families and mediate cross-cultural reconnections leaves the adoptive triad alone to sort out the search, negotiation, and reconfiguration of its international extended kin ties.