Transfers of Belonging

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.

• AcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of AbbreviationsGlossaryIntroductionBaatombu PeasantsNational and Regional Embeddedness Social Relations Kinship Terminology Fieldwork and MethodsField Research Thick Participation Childhood Studies Norm, Practice, Emotion 1 Theoretical Approaches and Concepts on Child FosteringA Structural-functionalist Perspective: Parenthood and Social ReproductionBearing and Begetting: Birth Parenthood Status Entitlement: Legal Parenthood Nurturance, Training and Sponsorship: Social Parenthood Delegation of Parenthood: Types, Reasons and Functions Discussion A Structuralist Perspective: The Circulation of ChildrenDiscussion Other PerspectivesThe Turn to the Actor Transfers of Imagined Belonging 2 Parenthood in Rural BorguBirth ParenthoodAn Open Secret Birth Giving Birth in the Health Centre Rites of Transition Everyday Practices Acquiring Knowledge Yearning Happy Foster Children Conceptions of Parenthood Motherhood Fatherhood Child FosteringDecisions Transferring a Child Possible Foster Parents Same Sex Kinship Hierarchy Order of Siblings Reasons for Child FosteringKinship Cohesion Preventing Regressive Behaviour in Children Social Parenthood Supports the Hierarchies Children as Workers Childlessness Crisis Fostering Women’s Interests Child Fostering, Gender and MarriageExchanging Children and Women ConflictsAvoidance and Indirect Communication Open Conflicts Self-reliance Foster Parents Running Away Arguments against Child FosteringKinship Conflicts Schooling A Bad Investment 3 Child Fostering in the Twentieth CenturyPrecolonial TimesEveryday Realities Violence and Gifts Oedipus in Africa? Colonial ChangesEnd of the Raids New Conceptions Sero Toro Tuunku and his Foster Son New Life Courses Christian Missions The Introduction of Schools State Policy The Post-colonial PeriodUrban Baatombu Households Expansion of Educational Facilities Between Town and Village: A ConflictChild Fostering in Urban Areas: Cotonou and ParakouUrban Households Mobility and Education Household Composition Fostering and Education Belonging Well-being Exploitation? Generations Child Fostering in the Villages of Tɛbɔ, Kika and YarɔFrequency of Child Fostering Birth Rate and Child Mortality Gender Schooling and Fostering Family Relationship between Children and their Foster Parents On the threshold of the 21st Century: Two ConflictsRafa Djamila ConclusionAppendixNames and InterviewsInterviews CitedReferencesIndex