Abstract

MONSALVE, Karen Alfaro  and  AGOGLIA, Irene Salvo. “Is there a lack of affection in Chile?” Discourses on love and “maternal abandonment” in “irregular” adoptions of poor children during the Chilean military dictatorship. Rev. Mus. Antropol. [online]. 2023, vol.16, n.2, pp.355-368.  Epub Aug 31, 2023. ISSN 1852-060X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.31048/1852.4826.v16.n2.38902.

This article analyses the political and moral uses of the discourse of maternal love in the promotion and management of “irregular” adoptions of poor children during the Chilean military dictatorship. This situation led to the development of irregular adoption practices, mainly to foreign countries, in which the discourse of the absence of maternal love and abandonment was used in order to separate poor birth mothers from their children, violating their right to care for them. Through the analysis of documentary of public institutions and press sources, we examine and discuss the public discourses constructed within the framework of the public policies of the time, with the aim of regulating moralities and reinforcing the regime’s conservative gender and family mandates.

Keywords : Maternity; Love; Adoptions; Irregularities; Dictatorship.

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