On the difficulty of thinking about identity construction without fixed anchors: transnational adoption in Spain

Authors

  • Beatriz San Román

Keywords:

transnational adoption, identity, late modernity, expert knowledge, nomadism

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research, this text analyses the role of "origins" in the way Spanish adoptive families, guided by the "expert knowledge" of those practitioners who are entrusted their training and support, construct the identity of transnational adoptees. This analysis reveals the difficulty discarding the traditional, dichotomous, and racialised categories that link identity to a territory, making it difficult to emerge for alternative narratives that give meaning and coherence to the life stories of those who, as transnationally adopted people, do not fit into those patterns.