CHANGING CONTEXTS FOR GRANDPARENT ADOPTION ON RAIVAVAE, FRENCH POLYNESIA

Authors

Jeanette L. Dickerson-Putnam, Indiana University-IndianapolisFollow

Abstract

This paper examines change in grandparent adoption and care of grandchildren on the Austral island of Raivavae in French Polynesia. The focus is on how Raivavaens have utilized the flexible, negotiable, and contingent institution of grandparent adoption as a strategy for coping with changing global/local linkages, out-migration for employment, and introduction of nonindigenous institutions and processes. The inherent flexibility of the adoptive relationship is apparently enabling Raivavaens to mold it in ways that serve a new set of needs and circumstances, most of which reside with the grandchild's parents rather than the grandparents. Grandparents appear to have extended and otherwise altered their adoption roles and responsibilities in large part to meet the needs and aspirations of the grandchild's parents, their adult children. This represents a significant shift in Raivavaen attitudes and values.

Recommended Citation

Dickerson-Putnam, Jeanette L. (2008) "CHANGING CONTEXTS FOR GRANDPARENT ADOPTION ON RAIVAVAE, FRENCH POLYNESIA," Pacific Studies Journal: Vol. 30: No. 3, Article 8.
Available at: https://digitalcollections.byuh.edu/pacific-studies-journal/vol30/iss3/8