Adoptive Transfers and Affective Experiences of Palauan Youth

Abstract

This paper explores some of the psychological aspects of circulation through adoptive transfers involving Palauan youth. Youth are centre-staged to better understand how circulation influences their lived experience and sense of self, and because youth perspectives are identified as subaltern within the Palauan social matrix. Consequently, the direct voices of youth may often be silenced in Palauan society and are virtually absent from ethnographic literature. The personal affective dimensions of youth circulation amongst generationally distanced kin members are examined. In some instances, youth were shuttled back and forth within and outside Palau every time different maternal or paternal family members lay claim to them. I identify some causes and effects of such geographic and social movements in two case studies with attention to biographical details and analyses of extended narratives. I highlight youth agency (or lack thereof) in a hierarchical social system and the unintended emotional impact of repeated circulation.