This paper provides a critical analysis of the narratives of Bolivian adoptees in Belgium. We dis... more This paper provides a critical analysis of the narratives of Bolivian adoptees in Belgium. We discuss how the adoptees look back upon the imagery of family and culture invoked by their parents and wider social environment and how this imagery has affected their sense of self and belonging. We argue that the adoptees’ narratives testify of a discursive struggle to reclaim control over their lives and histories. While they draw upon prevailing discourses that tend to imagine adoptees as ‘wounded’, they do so in diverse, complex and at times contradictory ways. Their perceptions of the familial and cultural imagery show that while they do not entirely reject the idea of being hurt, they seem to makea shift from explaining this ‘wound’ in individual-psychological terms to explaining it in social terms, making use of emerging anti-racist and decolonial perspectives.
This paper aims to deepen the conversation about the potential relevance and importance of includ... more This paper aims to deepen the conversation about the potential relevance and importance of including reflection on the desire and sexuality of the researcher in research outputs. We critically scrutinise the exceptionalisation of sexual(ised) interactions in research: why is sexual(ised) contact between researchers and participants considered unethical or problematic, and what are the consequences of the avoidance of—and/or the (self)-censorship with regard to discussin —intimacy in the field? This discussion leads us to argue for an alternative ethical approach than that prescribed by institutional ethical protocols. The ethical approach that we envision is based on the premise that knowledge production never occurs apart from our bodies and that a research relationship is not fundamentally different from any other human relationship. What we propose is a relational research ethics that creates space for discussing openly and in dialogue with others the (potential) consequences of our actions as researchers/human beings within relationships of shifting power asymmetry.
In this paper I make an analysis of the dominant ideas on love in Belgian society, based on the n... more In this paper I make an analysis of the dominant ideas on love in Belgian society, based on the narratives of men and women in (predominantly heterosexual) non-monogamous relationships. The narratives of these men and women show that although their practices do not conform to the ideal of the monogamous couple relationship, they often reproduce the gendered power relations inherent in the romantic love complex, thereby privileging the doctrine of detached individualism and invulnerability over notions of responsibility and care. Building on feminist critiques of the romantic love complex, this paper questions the subversive potential of these non-monogamous lifestyles as they seemingly fail to adequately challenge underlying patriarchal structures and mechanisms. The paper proposes an ethics of intersubjective vulnerability, which is defined by both a critical disposition and responsiveness to our own vulnerability and the vulnerability of others, as a prerequisite for radically rethinking love.
This article juxtaposes the discursive strategies of two groups of heterosexual men in the contex... more This article juxtaposes the discursive strategies of two groups of heterosexual men in the context of non-monogamous internet-mediated dating in Belgium, notably men who are open about their extra-dyadic sexual practices and ‘cheating’ men. The analysis shows that regardless of the men's use of openness or discretion to construct narratives of sexual identity, morality and care, their accounts seem to be deeply intertwined with monogamist and gendered ideas on sex, care and commitment, which serves to define a largely uncaring and consumeristic dating culture. The article argues that attentiveness to power inequalities should be the main focus of ‘ethical’ non-monogamy.
‘Citizenships under Construction: Affects, Politics and Practices’ presents a selection of extend... more ‘Citizenships under Construction: Affects, Politics and Practices’ presents a selection of extended papers presented at the HCAS Symposium on Citizenship and Migration, held in October 2014. With contributions by Anne Marie Fortier, Bridget Byrne, Anu Koivunen and Olli Löytty, the volume aims to further interdisciplinary dialogue on citizenship in the context of increased global migration. It provides unique insight into the ongoing theorization of the complicated workings of power and affects in constructions of race, gender and class, in the shaping of narratives of history and nation, and in the creation of hierarchies of belonging and deservedness.
Social Work & Society International Online Journal, 2017
This article describes the situation of Unaccompanied Minors (UAM) in Belgium, both in terms of t... more This article describes the situation of Unaccompanied Minors (UAM) in Belgium, both in terms of their numbers and demographic profile and in terms of their health and educational challenges. It sketches the complex Belgian legal and policy framework that determines the organization and the quality of care and support of this particular group of minors. The paper lists policy outcomes, including the creation of a specialized care system for UAM, a guardianship service and a three phase trajectory of observation, stabilization and supported autonomy for most UAM. It also points to policy shortcomings, in particular in relation to UAM’s needs. The paper concludes by recommending more research on the experiences and perspectives of UAM and on the variety of psychological, contextual and social factors that influence their wellbeing.
In our contribution to the round table of this newly launched journal we aim to present the conto... more In our contribution to the round table of this newly launched journal we aim to present the contours of what we see as the way forward for education and research in 'diversity and gender' in our own context of working at a Flemish university (Ghent University) today. According to good old key tenets of feminist epistemology, we must mention that this reflection is a " situated " one (Haraway, 1988) and therefore rooted in our own structural location, positioning, professional genealogy, past and recent experiences and future hopes and envisionings in this particular field. Although the struggle for the institutionalization of gender studies in Flanders has a herstory, which reaches back to the late eighties and nineties, slowly but surely some gains have recently been reached. At a time of global economic crisis, threat of cuts in the humanities and shrinking spaces for critical knowledge production, for gender and diversity in Flanders, somewhat surprisingly, a few things are taking off. For example, a PhD seminar in gender studies, which once started as a reading group, attracts many young researchers, and is now turning into an interuniversity endeavour with international appeal. A new interuniversity Master degree programme in 'Gender and Diversity' will start in 2014, and now the Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies is being launched. Equal opportunity policies are also increasingly becoming introduced into the administration; almost every university now has policy units or is promised some funding to tackle the persistent problem of the underrepresentation of women in the academic career path and at governing levels on the one hand, and the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities already at the level of the student body on the other. Yet these steps forward have not come easy and are the result of a long struggle, and must be emphasised, are carried by first, second and more recent generations of feminist and gender studies scholars, who
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this article analyses festive gatherings of Fle... more Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this article analyses festive gatherings of Flemish parents with children adopted from Ethiopia as sites for community building, charity work and culture work. On the one hand, it reads the festive gatherings as ways of celebrating the non-normativity of adoptive families and ways of aiming to contribute to a more inclusive citizenship. It argues that the adoptive parents’ organizations and gatherings can be seen as “intimacy groups” developing their own visible and positive cultures that can leak into broader public spheres and have the capacity to enhance the public recognition and normalization of adoptive families in society at large. On the other hand, the article points to the risks of reifying and reproducing difference and inequality. It points to the problematic entanglement of the festivities (and of adoption) with narratives of philanthropy and rescue, which risks to reinforce a neocolonialist imagery of white people saving black people. It also interrogates the way in which the parents’ “culture work” connects the black children to an alleged “birth culture” of which they often have no memories, a practice that seems to be motivated by essentialist discourses of race, identity and culture, and fits within a discourse that lacks a critical awareness of power inequalities and white privilege. (Article is in Dutch)
Drawing on empirical research completed in Belgium, this article presents a comparative analysis ... more 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.
Drawing on interviews with guardians of unaccompanied minor foreigners in Belgium, this article i... more Drawing on interviews with guardians of unaccompanied minor foreigners in Belgium, this article investigates the inequalities underlying the care relationships between guardians and their pupils. It does so by analysing the beliefs and practices of the guardians and considers how they both resist and reproduce dominant discourses on the minors’ presumed needs and rights in terms of care and protection. First, this article examines the way these guardians negotiate middle-class imageries of ‘sacred’ childhood that are featured in exclusionary conceptualizations of humanitarianism. Second, it explores the role of an ethics of care in how the guardians navigate between a desire for standardization and the interpersonal care relationships with their pupils. I argue that the guardianship work does not only add to the guardians’ constructions of middle-class subjectivity, but that it also provides them with a unique perspective that tends to change the way they see ‘just’ care.
Current transnational adoptive parenting is characterized by ambiguous practices of (1) discursiv... more 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 children’s 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 children’s 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 child’s 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.
Migration studies have so far largely failed to include transnational adoption and left the study... more 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.
This paper provides a critical analysis of the narratives of Bolivian adoptees in Belgium. We dis... more This paper provides a critical analysis of the narratives of Bolivian adoptees in Belgium. We discuss how the adoptees look back upon the imagery of family and culture invoked by their parents and wider social environment and how this imagery has affected their sense of self and belonging. We argue that the adoptees’ narratives testify of a discursive struggle to reclaim control over their lives and histories. While they draw upon prevailing discourses that tend to imagine adoptees as ‘wounded’, they do so in diverse, complex and at times contradictory ways. Their perceptions of the familial and cultural imagery show that while they do not entirely reject the idea of being hurt, they seem to makea shift from explaining this ‘wound’ in individual-psychological terms to explaining it in social terms, making use of emerging anti-racist and decolonial perspectives.
This paper aims to deepen the conversation about the potential relevance and importance of includ... more This paper aims to deepen the conversation about the potential relevance and importance of including reflection on the desire and sexuality of the researcher in research outputs. We critically scrutinise the exceptionalisation of sexual(ised) interactions in research: why is sexual(ised) contact between researchers and participants considered unethical or problematic, and what are the consequences of the avoidance of—and/or the (self)-censorship with regard to discussin —intimacy in the field? This discussion leads us to argue for an alternative ethical approach than that prescribed by institutional ethical protocols. The ethical approach that we envision is based on the premise that knowledge production never occurs apart from our bodies and that a research relationship is not fundamentally different from any other human relationship. What we propose is a relational research ethics that creates space for discussing openly and in dialogue with others the (potential) consequences of our actions as researchers/human beings within relationships of shifting power asymmetry.
In this paper I make an analysis of the dominant ideas on love in Belgian society, based on the n... more In this paper I make an analysis of the dominant ideas on love in Belgian society, based on the narratives of men and women in (predominantly heterosexual) non-monogamous relationships. The narratives of these men and women show that although their practices do not conform to the ideal of the monogamous couple relationship, they often reproduce the gendered power relations inherent in the romantic love complex, thereby privileging the doctrine of detached individualism and invulnerability over notions of responsibility and care. Building on feminist critiques of the romantic love complex, this paper questions the subversive potential of these non-monogamous lifestyles as they seemingly fail to adequately challenge underlying patriarchal structures and mechanisms. The paper proposes an ethics of intersubjective vulnerability, which is defined by both a critical disposition and responsiveness to our own vulnerability and the vulnerability of others, as a prerequisite for radically rethinking love.
This article juxtaposes the discursive strategies of two groups of heterosexual men in the contex... more This article juxtaposes the discursive strategies of two groups of heterosexual men in the context of non-monogamous internet-mediated dating in Belgium, notably men who are open about their extra-dyadic sexual practices and ‘cheating’ men. The analysis shows that regardless of the men's use of openness or discretion to construct narratives of sexual identity, morality and care, their accounts seem to be deeply intertwined with monogamist and gendered ideas on sex, care and commitment, which serves to define a largely uncaring and consumeristic dating culture. The article argues that attentiveness to power inequalities should be the main focus of ‘ethical’ non-monogamy.
‘Citizenships under Construction: Affects, Politics and Practices’ presents a selection of extend... more ‘Citizenships under Construction: Affects, Politics and Practices’ presents a selection of extended papers presented at the HCAS Symposium on Citizenship and Migration, held in October 2014. With contributions by Anne Marie Fortier, Bridget Byrne, Anu Koivunen and Olli Löytty, the volume aims to further interdisciplinary dialogue on citizenship in the context of increased global migration. It provides unique insight into the ongoing theorization of the complicated workings of power and affects in constructions of race, gender and class, in the shaping of narratives of history and nation, and in the creation of hierarchies of belonging and deservedness.
Social Work & Society International Online Journal, 2017
This article describes the situation of Unaccompanied Minors (UAM) in Belgium, both in terms of t... more This article describes the situation of Unaccompanied Minors (UAM) in Belgium, both in terms of their numbers and demographic profile and in terms of their health and educational challenges. It sketches the complex Belgian legal and policy framework that determines the organization and the quality of care and support of this particular group of minors. The paper lists policy outcomes, including the creation of a specialized care system for UAM, a guardianship service and a three phase trajectory of observation, stabilization and supported autonomy for most UAM. It also points to policy shortcomings, in particular in relation to UAM’s needs. The paper concludes by recommending more research on the experiences and perspectives of UAM and on the variety of psychological, contextual and social factors that influence their wellbeing.
In our contribution to the round table of this newly launched journal we aim to present the conto... more In our contribution to the round table of this newly launched journal we aim to present the contours of what we see as the way forward for education and research in 'diversity and gender' in our own context of working at a Flemish university (Ghent University) today. According to good old key tenets of feminist epistemology, we must mention that this reflection is a " situated " one (Haraway, 1988) and therefore rooted in our own structural location, positioning, professional genealogy, past and recent experiences and future hopes and envisionings in this particular field. Although the struggle for the institutionalization of gender studies in Flanders has a herstory, which reaches back to the late eighties and nineties, slowly but surely some gains have recently been reached. At a time of global economic crisis, threat of cuts in the humanities and shrinking spaces for critical knowledge production, for gender and diversity in Flanders, somewhat surprisingly, a few things are taking off. For example, a PhD seminar in gender studies, which once started as a reading group, attracts many young researchers, and is now turning into an interuniversity endeavour with international appeal. A new interuniversity Master degree programme in 'Gender and Diversity' will start in 2014, and now the Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies is being launched. Equal opportunity policies are also increasingly becoming introduced into the administration; almost every university now has policy units or is promised some funding to tackle the persistent problem of the underrepresentation of women in the academic career path and at governing levels on the one hand, and the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities already at the level of the student body on the other. Yet these steps forward have not come easy and are the result of a long struggle, and must be emphasised, are carried by first, second and more recent generations of feminist and gender studies scholars, who
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this article analyses festive gatherings of Fle... more Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this article analyses festive gatherings of Flemish parents with children adopted from Ethiopia as sites for community building, charity work and culture work. On the one hand, it reads the festive gatherings as ways of celebrating the non-normativity of adoptive families and ways of aiming to contribute to a more inclusive citizenship. It argues that the adoptive parents’ organizations and gatherings can be seen as “intimacy groups” developing their own visible and positive cultures that can leak into broader public spheres and have the capacity to enhance the public recognition and normalization of adoptive families in society at large. On the other hand, the article points to the risks of reifying and reproducing difference and inequality. It points to the problematic entanglement of the festivities (and of adoption) with narratives of philanthropy and rescue, which risks to reinforce a neocolonialist imagery of white people saving black people. It also interrogates the way in which the parents’ “culture work” connects the black children to an alleged “birth culture” of which they often have no memories, a practice that seems to be motivated by essentialist discourses of race, identity and culture, and fits within a discourse that lacks a critical awareness of power inequalities and white privilege. (Article is in Dutch)
Drawing on empirical research completed in Belgium, this article presents a comparative analysis ... more 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.
Drawing on interviews with guardians of unaccompanied minor foreigners in Belgium, this article i... more Drawing on interviews with guardians of unaccompanied minor foreigners in Belgium, this article investigates the inequalities underlying the care relationships between guardians and their pupils. It does so by analysing the beliefs and practices of the guardians and considers how they both resist and reproduce dominant discourses on the minors’ presumed needs and rights in terms of care and protection. First, this article examines the way these guardians negotiate middle-class imageries of ‘sacred’ childhood that are featured in exclusionary conceptualizations of humanitarianism. Second, it explores the role of an ethics of care in how the guardians navigate between a desire for standardization and the interpersonal care relationships with their pupils. I argue that the guardianship work does not only add to the guardians’ constructions of middle-class subjectivity, but that it also provides them with a unique perspective that tends to change the way they see ‘just’ care.
Current transnational adoptive parenting is characterized by ambiguous practices of (1) discursiv... more 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 children’s 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 children’s 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 child’s 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.
Migration studies have so far largely failed to include transnational adoption and left the study... more 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.
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Papers by Katrien De Graeve
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