Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption [Paperback]

Barbara Katz Rothman (Author), William Loren Katz (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Weaving together the sociological, the historical, and the personal, Barbara Katz Rothman looks at the contemporary American family through the lens of race, race through the lens of adoption, and all-race, family, and adoption-within the context of the changing meanings of motherhood.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rothman's caveat—that she'll "slide back and forth between memoir and sociology"—is disarming, even inviting. The author, a sociologist at the City University of New York, distinguishes between personal memoir, where "the driving force is the story: you want to tell your life," and the sociologist's autoethnography, where "your life is your data." Her work, she explains, is "closer to the latter, but not quite." But for readers, sticking with Rothman's stream-of-consciousness approach is trying as the white adoptive parent of a black child creates a sprawling mosaic of professional expertise and personal experience. The byways, to name a few, include home birthing, international adoption, genetics, slavery, consumerism in birthing and parenting, whiteness studies, biomedics and Jewish-black relations. The social scientist in Rothman develops a typology of black children raised by white parents—"Protégés, Pets, and Trophies"—and plunges into genomic detail. The memoirist in her surfaces to recall handling her daughter's hair ("I developed a bit of an eye, an aesthetic sense for black hair"). Comforted as readers may be by the author's general avoidance of jargon and impressed by her interdisciplinary breadth, this occasionally absorbing book too often seems an idiosyncratic grab bag. By the end, we know a little about a lot of sociological concepts and a little about the personal experience that was the book's catalyst. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

What a fine and complex book this is! Barbara Katz Rothman takes us, with lucidity and (often brave) good humor, through the tangle of pains and satisfactions that come with her family's challenge to the racial status quo.--Rosellen Brown, author of Half a Heart and Before and After

"Is it right for white parents to adopt African-American children? How does a white parent expose her black daughter to two cultures? Protect the child from insensitive remarks? Sociologist Barbara Katz Rothman . . . doesn't just describe what it's like to be the white mother of a black girl. Rothman skillfully debates adoption ethics, the commodification of children, and the politics of inequality in America."--Anne E. Stein, Chicago Tribune

"In Weaving a Family, the sociologist and white mother of an African American girl provides an accessible, sensitive portrayal of the inherent sociological complexities of mixed-race adoption and parenting."--Melissa Chianta, Mothering

"A bold and passionate autobiographical account . . . of a white mother raising her adopted black daughter. Rothman is a loving mother and also a fine sociologist. The blend of these gives us an honest and insightful book. A must read."--Arlie Hochschild, author of The Commercialization of Intimate Life

"A revealing personal account which combines sound sociological knowledge and current data with a firsthand, intimate portrayal of multiracial family life. For families contemplating transracial adoption, or interracially adoptive families, this book should be read."--Professor Howard Altstein, University of Maryland School of Social Work

"Weaving a Family makes a remarkably original contribution to the literature on race and adoption. Writing as a mother and a sociologist, Barbara Katz Rothman provides insightful, urgent lessons on mothering children in a racist world . . . Weaving a Family is ultimately hopeful about the possibility of building just and loving relationships across racial borders."--Dorothy Roberts, author of Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807028304
• ISBN-13: 978-0807028308
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,232,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for Transracial Adoptions, August 3, 2005

By 

Minna Scherlinder Morse (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption (Hardcover)

As a recent adoptive (white) parent of an African-American infant girl, I found Barbara Katz Rothman's book, Weaving a Family, to be a godsend. In down-to-earth prose, but with the incisive thinking of the sociologist that she is, Katz Rothman takes a bold look at the complexities underlying her own transracial adoption (of her now-15-year-old daughter, Victoria, whom she adopted as an infant) and the phenomenon of transracial adoption in America today. While feeling no less her daughter's mother, she fearlessly explores and exposes the cultural ironies of transracial adoption, and the privilege and responsibility that imposes on those who enter such relationships.

This should be required reading for prospective parents considering transracial adoption. On one level, it's an easy read; the writing is magnificent. On another--the emotional level--it can be tough going, but absolutely necessary if the children of transracial adoptions are going to be well served by the arrangement, and by their families. Top rate...

17 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ugh..., December 30, 2005

By 

S. Musgrove - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption (Hardcover)

I must say that I was really excited to read this book, which appeared to closely parallel my struggles. What I got, instead, was a sociologists' opinion about why adoption is a bandaid for a massive wound.

Her opinions leak onto every page, leading one to beleive that they're absolute truth. I was bummed. I hoped for so much more from an intellectual stand point, but all that I got was ... a lot of wishwash with very few answers.

And so, my two stars is because I was hoping that she would act human a little more than scientist. That she would reveal her mom side a little more than her career side. (I understand that both sides make up the writer, but very little was personal about this book.)

If you're hoping to have someone who reveals what life REALLY is in a cross cultural family, go somewhere else because this book has very little to do with day to day life within my family.

"So where do babies fit in? On the one hand, mothers produce babies. On the other hand, mothers "consume" babies: we use babies as objects to produce ourselves as mothers. The baby is like an accessory, the very important object we have to add to our homes to complete ourselves and our families." -pg 37

Ugh...

How about I just want to aide our world by loving just one more child?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for prospective Adoptive parents (fathers?), August 13, 2011

By 

Michael Evans "loki" (Westerville, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption (Kindle Edition)

To be honest, I'm not sure who this is for. I am roughly half-way through the book and I need to put it down.

Perhaps I missed the point of this book. My wife and I are considering transracial adoption and have no preference as to the child's race. However, on further review we want to make sure that we can provide a home that an African-America child can grow up, thrive and succeed in.

I was hoping that this book would answer some of these questions, maybe even offer suggestions. Don't get me wrong, they might be in there, I guess I'll never know. To get to anything of use, be prepared to slog through anecdotes and observations from every single one of her interests/hobbies. You'll get some genetics and economics, followed by blurbs describing African American people from the 18th century and their relationships to their benefactors (I have no idea why these were included because at the end of a disjointed narrative she just posts a question like "Hmmm, I wonder how the benefactor felt about that person"). The problem is, that most of these tangents are at best mildly interesting and not at all instructive.

So long story short, if you are looking for a rambling exploration of all of the various factors that may or may not have shaped transracial adoption through the centuries, this might be for you.

If you are like myself and want a book that gets right to the point of what are the major issues that you will encounter in transracial adoption and some strategies to deal with those issues, keep looking. This book is not for you. Or maybe all of that info is crammed into the last half of the book :/