Children and the Politics of Cultural Belonging [Hardcover]

Alice Hearst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2012

Conversations about multiculturalism rarely consider the position of children, who are presumptively nested in families and communities. Yet providing care for children who are unanchored from their birth families raises questions central to multicultural concerns, as they frequently find themselves moved from communities of origin through adoption or foster care, which deeply affects marginalized communities. This book explores the debate over communal and cultural belonging in three distinct contexts: domestic transracial adoptions of non-American Indian children, the scope of tribal authority over American Indian children, and cultural and communal belonging for transnationally adopted children. Understanding how children "belong" to families and communities requires hard thinking about the extent to which cultural or communal belonging matters for children and communities, who should have authority to inculcate racial and cultural awareness and under what terms, and, finally, the degree to which children should be expected to adopt and carry forward racial or cultural identities.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Conversations about multiculturalism rarely consider the position of children. Yet providing care for children unanchored from their birth families raises questions central to multicultural concerns. This book explores the debate over communal and cultural belonging in three contexts: domestic transracial adoptions of non-American Indian children, the scope of tribal authority over American Indian children, and cultural and communal belonging for transnationally adopted children.

About the Author

Dr Alice Hearst is an Associate Professor at the Smith College Department of Government. In addition to teaching public law at Smith College, she has been a visiting or adjunct professor at Cornell University Law School and the University of Utah Law School. Her research interests focus on state regulation of the family. She has published essays in the Law and Society Review and the Journal for the History of Childhood and Youth (for which she is the contemporary issues editor).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1107017866
• ISBN-13: 978-1107017863
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,956,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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