The Circulation of Children: Kinship, Adoption, and Morality in Andean Peru by J

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Explores "child circulation," informal arrangements in which indigenous Andean children are sent by their parents to live in other households. This title demonstrates that such an understanding of the practice is simplistic and misleading.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

In this vivid ethnography, Jessaca B. Leinaweaver explores "child circulation," informal arrangements in which indigenous Andean children are sent by their parents to live in other households. At first glance, child circulation appears tantamount to child abandonment. When seen in that light, the practice is a violation of international norms regarding children's rights, guidelines that the Peruvian state relies on in regulating legal adoptions. Leinaweaver demonstrates that such an understanding of the practice is simplistic and misleading. Her in-depth ethnographic analysis reveals child circulation to be a meaningful, pragmatic social practice for poor and indigenous Peruvians, a flexible system of kinship that has likely been part of Andean lives for centuries. Child circulation may be initiated because parents cannot care for their children, because a childless elder wants company, or because it gives a young person the opportunity to gain needed skills. Leinaweaver provides insight into the emotional and material factors that bring together and separate indigenous Andean families in the highland city of Ayacucho. She describes how child circulation is intimately linked to survival in the city, which has had to withstand colonialism, economic isolation, and the devastating civil war unleashed by the Shining Path. Leinaweaver examines the practice from the perspective of parents who send their children to live in other households, the adults who receive them, and the children themselves. She relates child circulation to international laws and norms regarding children's rights, adoptions, and orphans, and to Peru's history of racial conflict and violence. Given that history, Leinaweaver maintains that it is not surprising that child circulation, a practice associated with Peru's impoverished indigenous community, is alternately ignored, tolerated, or condemned by the state.

Notes

Analyzes the practice of informal adoption and child circulation between communities in Peru

Author Biography

Jessaca B. Leinaweaver is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Brown University.

Table of Contents

About the Series viiAcknowledgments ixA Note on Translation xiiiIntroduction: Moving Children in Ayacucho 11. Ayacucho: Histories of Violence and Ethnography 212. International Adoption: The Globalization of Kinship 373. Puericulture and Andean Orphanhood 614. Companionship and Custom: The Mechanics of Child Circulation 815. Superación: The Strategic Uses of Child Circulation 1056. Pertenecer: Knowledge and Kinship 1347. Circulating Children, at Home and Abroad 154Glossary 163Notes 165Bibliography 195Index 213

Review

"The Circulation of Children is a real contribution to several fields including kinship studies and Andean studies. Jessaca B. Leinaweaver has done substantial fieldwork in an important region of South America on a topic of great current interest and lasting scholarly importance."--Mary Weismantel, author of Cholas and Pishtacos: Stories of Race and Sex in the Andes "In this highly readable, quite original study of the practice of child circulation, Jessaca B. Leinaweaver discusses the social, economic, racial, gender, legal, and moral contours of that practice; locates it in a complex web of local, regional, and national vectors of culture and power; and offers a nuanced interpretation of it as neither entirely benevolent nor completely exploitative. Leinaweaver is respectful and empathetic, and her book is rich in ethnographic information, thick descriptions, and personal stories."--Carlos Aguirre, author of The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds: The Prison Experience, 1850-1935

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Analyzes the practice of informal adoption and child circulation between communities in Peru

Review Quote

"The Circulation of Children is a real contribution to several fields including kinship studies and Andean studies. Jessaca B. Leinaweaver has done substantial fieldwork in an important region of South America on a topic of great current interest and lasting scholarly importance."-Mary Weismantel, author of Cholas and Pishtacos: Stories of Race and Sex in the Andes"In this highly readable, quite original study of the practice of child circulation, Jessaca B. Leinaweaver discusses the social, economic, racial, gender, legal, and moral contours of that practice; locates it in a complex web of local, regional, and national vectors of culture and power; and offers a nuanced interpretation of it as neither entirely benevolent nor completely exploitative. Leinaweaver is respectful and empathetic, and her book is rich in ethnographic information, thick descriptions, and personal stories."-Carlos Aguirre, author of The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds: The Prison Experience, 1850-1935

Promotional "Headline"

Analyzes the practice of informal adoption and child circulation between communities in Peru

Details ISBN0822341972 Author Jessaca B. Leinaweaver Short Title CIRCULATION OF CHILDREN Publisher Duke University Press Language English ISBN-10 0822341972 ISBN-13 9780822341970 Media Book Format Paperback Year 2008 Imprint Duke University Press Subtitle Kinship, Adoption, and Morality in Andean Peru Place of Publication North Carolina Country of Publication United States DOI 10.1604/9780822341970 UK Release Date 2008-11-26 AU Release Date 2008-11-26 NZ Release Date 2008-11-26 US Release Date 2008-11-26 Pages 248 Series Latin America Otherwise Publication Date 2008-11-26 DEWEY 305.230985 Illustrations 11 illustrations, 2 maps Audience Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly We've got this

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