Berättelser om adoption

Sammanfattning: Abstract: Adoption Stories (Berättelser om adoption)

This dissertation explores adoption stories in a Swedish context. The aim is two-fold: First, how adoption is presented by adopted adults; second, how adoption is constructed in the press. The way adoptees create meaning of “being adopted” is investigated; the way those stories are shaped culturally is also explored.
The study was conducted in a qualitative tradition with a constructionist and narrative approach. The empirical material consisted of 20 individual interviews, a focus group interview and an analysis of adoption issues in media. The age span of the adoptees in the individual interviews was 25-65 years. The articles examined stemmed from daily newspapers. The time period studied was 2003-2005. 124 articles were chosen for closer investigation.
Two different storylines were uncovered in the personal stories – adoption as a complicated experience and adoption as an uncomplicated experience. In the first storyline the abandoned child was linked with psychological and social interpretations of “being different”; in the second, on the other hand, a story of the chosen child, brought up with a loving family, was built. In this storyline issues of being different were not raised, on the contrary being adopted appeared almost irrelevant.
In the press two discourses were identified – adoption as a solution (for “not having children” or “not having parents”) and adoption as a problem (for example individual problems regarding “identity” or adoption as a contested practice).
The analysis illustrates that personal stories are framed by culturally available resources. It is emphasized that the qualitative interview is a relational practice. This means that interviews must be considered in context, the local context of its production, but also in a broader cultural context.