Abstract
Book review: Transfers of Belonging: Child Fostering in West Africa in the 20th Century
Highlights
The second part of the book summarises the different theoretical approaches to child fostering
Notions of motherhood and fatherhood are deeply engrained into our personal experiences. They feel “natural.” Erdmute Alber questions any naturalistic assumption with the very first sentence of her fascinating and very timely book on parenthood and fosterage in Benin: “Nothing is seemingly more natural than the idea that children belong to their birth parents who are caring for them” (1)
While adoption and fosterage have been described for different regions of the world, what makes the cases described in Alber’s monograph outstanding is the normality of this transfer of belonging
Summary
The second part of the book summarises the different theoretical approaches to child fostering. Erdmute (2018), Transfers of Belonging: Child Fostering in West Africa in the 20th Century, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-35980-2 (paperback), 269 pages They feel “natural.” Erdmute Alber questions any naturalistic assumption with the very first sentence of her fascinating and very timely book on parenthood and fosterage in Benin: “Nothing is seemingly more natural than the idea that children belong to their birth parents who are caring for them” (1).
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