Galindabaeva V. The Tradition of Open Adoption in the Post-Soviet Buryatia: Local Practices vs. Formal Rules. Kunstkamera, 2020, Issue 1(7), pp. 118-126, doi 10.31250 ...

Текст статьи на сайте журнала URL: http://journal.kunstkamera.ru/files/journal_kunstkamera/2020_01/118-126_galindabaeva.pdf (дата обращения 20.04.2020)

Abstract

The article considers the process of evolution of childcare in the context of rural-urban migration in the case of Buryat families of rural migrants, who moved to Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia, in search of work. The dominant ideology prescribes daily participation of the mother in the life of her child. Open adoption in Buryatia today can be called a special type of intergenerational care, which is carried out in the wider context of kinship, rather than the extended family. This type of care is contrary to the main provisions of the dominant cultural pattern of intensive motherhood. Despite stigmatization, this practice continues to exist and adapt to new conditions. The study has been conducted within the framework of qualitative methodology. The author has come to the conclusion that the custom of open adoption is becoming popular in modern Buryatia as a legitimate way to level out the lack of care in the family of a rural migrant. If earlier the need for adoption was legitimized by the shamanistic belief in the ancestral spirits living on the earth, today Buddhism justifi es parents who give away their children with the concept of “buin”. The custom of open adoption is encouraged in terms of public discourse, but stigmatized in private space.