Doctoral Dissertation Research: Moral and Ethical Foundations in Adoptive Kin Relations

人种学证据一再证明，共有的遗传物质并不是亲属关系的普遍基础;亲属关系不能在任何一般意义上由生物学或文化预先决定。研究人类亲属关系复杂性的一个较清晰的地方是非血亲收养亲属之间的社会关系。例如，在某些情况下，未来的父母将收养视为一种宗教体验，而不是人道主义奋进或只是希望增加现有家庭。该项目培训一名研究生掌握实证、科学数据收集和分析方法，探讨宗教与跨国收养之间的关系。将传播这项研究的结果，以帮助研究人员和决策者更好地了解亲属关系和宗教信仰是如何构成的。该项目本身也有助于扩大传统上在科学领域代表性不足的个人的参与。克莉丝汀·查利富在密歇根大学迈克尔·麦戈文博士的监督下询问宗教呼召是否是选择收养儿童的福音派核心家庭的基础，以及这在跨国收养实践中的作用。这项研究将以乌干达为中心，乌干达是研究跨国收养变化的理想自然实验室，因为在《儿童修正法》使外国人收养儿童变得更加困难之前，跨国收养率迅速上升。尽管越来越多的障碍，包括在乌干达居住一年以上才能合法收养一名合格的儿童，但一些虔诚的基督徒仍然致力于在这个特定国家的收养程序。在调查他们的宗教是否鼓励他们远离家人，生活在比美国或其他西方国家更艰苦的条件下时，本项目将研究信仰如何被用来在坎帕拉的一家孤儿院组建家庭。本计画将使用民族志的方法，包括参与式观察、生活史搜集、正式访谈，以了解收养的宗教性。这样做将使人们能够超越目前的辩论，认为它是道德上正确或错误的收养的理解，提供新的见解的做法的未来。档案研究也将被用来探索这种背景如何成为西方传教士所寻求的，并最终成为他们选择收养儿童的地方。这些见解为关于宗教、亲属关系、跨国收养和基督徒生活世界的交叉点的辩论提供了信息，超越了媒体和学术文献中通常肤浅的描绘。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ethnographic evidence has repeatedly established that shared genetic material is not a universal foundation for relations of kinship; kin relations cannot be biologically or culturally predetermined in any general sense. One of the clearer sites for examining the complexities of human kin relations is with the social relations between non-consanguine adoptive kin. In some cases, for example, prospective parents express adoption as a religious experience, as opposed to a humanitarian endeavor or simply a wish to add to their existing families. This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, explores the relationship between religion and transnational adoption. The findings of this research will be disseminated in such a way to aid researchers and policy-makers to better understand how kin relations and religiosity are constituted. The project itself also contributes to broadening the participation of individuals traditionally underrepresented in science.Christine Chalifoux, under the supervision of Dr. Michael McGovern of the University of Michigan asks whether religious calling is the foundation for Evangelical nuclear families who choose to adopt children, and what role this has in the practice of transnational adoption. This research will be centered in Uganda, an ideal natural laboratory for studying changes in transnational adoption as rates were rapidly rising until the Children Amendment Act made it significantly more difficult for foreigners to adopt children. Despite increasing obstacles, which include residing in Uganda for over one year in order to legally adopt an eligible child, some devout Christians remain committed to the adoption process in this particular country. In investigation whether their religion is inspiring them to live away from their family and in more austere conditions than in the United States or other Western countries, this project will examine how faith is being used to form families at an orphanage in Kampala. This project will use ethnographic methods, including participant observation, life history collection, and formal interviews, in order to comprehend the religiosity of adoption. Doing so will enable an understanding of adoption beyond the current debates that situate it as morally right or wrong, offering new insight into the future of the practice. Archival research will also be used explore how this context emerged as one sought out by Western missionaries, and eventually a place from where they chose to adopt children. These insights inform debates about the intersection of religion, kinship, transnational adoption, and the lived worlds of Christians beyond often-superficial portrayals in the media and academic literature.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.