Perceptions of cross-racial adoption in South Africa.
Date
2010-08-06
Authors
Hall, Victoria Ann
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Abstract
This study aimed to explore possible ways in which racist ideology and counter positions to
this ideology are played out in discourses about cross-racial adoption (CRA) in the current
post-apartheid context of South Africa. Three focus group interviews were conducted with 18
psychology students at the University of the Witwatersrand. The study adopted a social
constructionist approach to knowledge and transcripts from the focus groups were analyzed
using discourse analysis that combined techniques from Braun and Clarke (2006) and Parker
(1992, 1999). Analysis revealed that students’ discussion focused mainly on the extent to
which they thought black children raised by white parents should (or should not) be exposed
to black culture. The discourses underlying these opinions appeared to gain social legitimacy
for their speakers through three overarching repertoires, all of which tended to be used to
divert attention away from the political ramifications of arguments. Firstly, participants
claimed that their arguments were made with “the best interests of the child” at heart.
Secondly, participants constructed particular meanings of the relationship between ‘race’ and
identity by framing these meanings as central to “knowing who you are”. Thirdly, participants
distanced themselves from accountability for their opinions by framing them as reflections of
“other South Africans’ attitudes” towards ‘race’ and CRA. Overall, the analysis revealed that
processes of racialisation show strong persistence in both black and white people’s discourses
about CRA, but tend to be overtly expressed as a value and tolerance of different cultures and
ethnicities. However, counter voices to these discourses did emerge in prominent challenges
to the idea that ‘race’, ethnicity and culture are intrinsic and immutable features of people.
Less prominent were the occasional counter voices that suggested these constructs are
nevertheless pertinent, because of the ways in which they may be used to either challenge
‘racially’-derived inequalities between groups, or to fuel the prominence of racist ideology in
society.
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Keywords
Cross-racial, Adoption, South Africa, Racism, Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Identity, Discources, Ideology