Towards Reproductive (In)Justice ? : Mobilities, Technologies, Labourings & Decisions
Colloques, journées d’études, conférences | Colloque
XI AFIN International Conference, Université de Grenade, Espagne
4-6 septembre 2019
AFIN Research Group, GENI (Université de Barcelone)
Mylène Hernandez participera au colloque de clôture du projet de recherche On parental desires and reproductive and filial rights : interdisciplinary perspectives on reproductive decisions and ’the origins’ in assisted reproduction with gamete donation, surrogacy and adoption [1] qui aura lieu à l’université de Grenade (Espagne) du 4 au 6 septembre 2019.
Elle interviendra le 6 septembre entre 10h et 11h30 sur la question des liens entre frères et sœurs de naissance dans l’adoption.
Titre de l’intervention : Bonding with one’s sisters and brothers by birth : ethnography of a tenuous link
Résumé : In the course of researching their origins, some adopted individuals discover the existence of sisters or brothers by birth, also adopted or having remained in their family of origin. Connected by the circumstances of their birth without being related, often without a common language, without any shared daily life, socially and culturally distant, generally inscribed in a significant financial asymmetry, these « sisters » and « brothers » sometimes form relationships, although not without efforts. Paradoxically, while these individuals are not legally bound and while in France the sisters and brothers by law are not bound by any legal mutual obligation, their relations are nevertheless fraught with questions of moral and material obligation.
In this paper, I offer to present the preliminary results of an ethnographic survey conducted in France among people adopted internationally who, during their « quest for origins », discovered and met sisters and brothers by birth. If there is a scientific literature and abundant testimonies on the research of mothers and fathers of birth, the research and the unexpected discovery of sisters and brothers have hardly been documented or analyzed. Thus, after having exposed the methodological dimensions of the ethnographic work carried out, I will use the materials collected to describe the relational modalities established between the people surveyed and their sisters and brothers by birth. I will discuss how the respondents articulate the different registers of siblingship in which they are inscribed ; namely the adoptive, by birth or elective siblingships. Finally, I will show the complex workings of the moral and material obligations at the ordinary level of their precarious relations of siblingship with their sisters and brothers by birth. Indeed, is it enough to declare oneself “sisters” or “brothers” and to acknowledge a common “origin” in order to establish moral and material links that are mutually binding ?
Voir en ligne : XI AFIN International Conference
Crédits image : Granada par Alper Çuğun, Licence CC BY.
Produire des personnes et des liens : ce que l’absence d’enfants fait à la (...)
