Abstract
The concept of genetic stigma, in the sense of being othered on the basis of one’s birth status or ancestry, is seen frequently in various works of literature—and in the mechanisms of law or custom—across a wide range of eras. This book looks to differing genres (folklore, faery tales, classic novels, children’s literature, science fiction) where orphans, foundlings, and adoptees have been othered, discriminated against, or somehow disenfranchised.
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Notes
- 1.
Tellegen-Couperus, Olga ‘Father and Foundling in Classical Roman Law’ Journal of Legal History (2013) 34 (2), pp. 129–138, p. 138.
- 2.
Rather than conflate the definitions of orphan and foundling, the terms are used here separately to differentiate between children who have had one or both parents die (‘orphans’) and those who have become parentless due to abandonment or relinquishment (‘foundlings’). Orphanisation will denote situations where law or custom have deliberately intervened to sever the child from their original familial ties (usually to enable adoption or fosterage). On the various distinctions, see further Allen, Rebecca Jane and Nakonechnyi, Alex, ‘Orphans, Displaced, and Institutionalized Children’ in Baikady, R et al. (eds.) ‘The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems’ (2023) Palgrave Macmillan: London. See also Kaneko-Iwase (2021) on how international law has added to the uncertainty surrounding the definition(s) of the term foundling, by frequently ‘confusing or combining the condition of nationality grant with the definition of a foundling.’ Kaneko-Iwase, M., ‘Nationality of Foundlings: Avoiding Statelessness Among Children of Unknown Parents Under International Nationality Law’ (2021) Springer, London, p. 78.
- 3.
Many more works and genres might have been included, had there been room: the tropes of heroic orphan and devious foundling are also widespread across, for example, indigenous folklore and trickster tales, works of Renaissance drama, graphic novels and comics, and popular culture in film and television. See further Gymnich et al., ‘The Orphan in Fiction and Comics since the 19th Century’ (2018) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge; Morris, Robert B., ‘American Cultural Myth and the Orphan Archetype’ European Journal of American Culture (2016) 35 (2), pp. 127–145; Simpson, Eileen, ‘Orphans Real and Imaginary’ (1987) Weidenfeld & Nicolson: New York; Curtis, James Michael, ‘In Absentia Parentis: The Orphan Figure in Latter Twentieth Century Anglo-American Children’s Fantasy’ Dissertations (2016) 322; Kimball, Melanie A., ‘From Folktales to Fiction: Orphan Characters in Children’s Literature’ Library Trends (1999) 47 (3), pp. 558–578.
- 4.
Keating, Jenny ‘A Child for Keeps: The History of Adoption in England, 1918–45’ (2009) Palgrave: London; Davey, Samantha, ‘A Failure of Proportion: Non-Consensual Adoption in England and Wales’ (2020) Hart: Oxford; Carp, E Wayne, ‘Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption’ (2000) Harvard University Press: Boston.
- 5.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, UN), ‘Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine 1 August 2022–31 January 2023’ (2023). https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/ukraine/2023/23-03-24-Ukraine-35th-periodic-report-ENG.pdf.
- 6.
Hindle, Debbie, ‘Hansel and Gretel: A Complex Tale of Parent–Child Interactions’ Infant Observation (2020), pp 1–15, p. 1.
- 7.
See further Sale Roger ‘Fairy Tales’ The Hudson Review (1977) 30 (3), pp. 372–394 on how ‘the stories we know are derived from a relatively late period just before they began to be written down and collected but are descendants of versions that go back into the mists of time, through centuries we somewhat plumply sum up with the term “oral tradition”’ (p. 372).
- 8.
Nixon Cheryl, ‘The Orphan in Eighteenth Century Law and Literature: Estate, Blood, and Body’ (2011) Routledge: London, p. 262.
- 9.
Vanderbeke, Dirk ‘The Orphan in Comics and Graphic Novels’ in Gymnich, Marion et al. (eds.) ‘The Orphan in Fiction and Comics Since the 19th Century’ (2018) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p. 242.
- 10.
Godden, R., Introduction, an Episode of Sparrows (1955) xv (Kindle ed.).
- 11.
See further Baglietto, C., Bordier, L., Dambach, M., and Jeannin, C., ‘Preserving “Family Relations”: An Essential Feature of the Child’s Right to Identity’ (2022) Geneva, Switzerland: Child Identity Protection (CHiP); Browne, Kevin et al., ‘Child Abandonment and Its Prevention in Europe’ (2012) University of Nottingham (available at Child Abandonment and Its Prevention in Europe.pdf (bettercarenetwork.org accessed 20 May 2023).
- 12.
Klarer, Mario, ‘Orality and Literacy as Gender-Supporting Structures in Margaret Atwood's “The Handmaid’s Tale”’ Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal (December 1995) 28 (4), pp. 129–142.
- 13.
For an excellent summary of the UK Government’s ongoing refusal to offer an apology for historic violations of family life (via forced adoptions) in England, see Noble, Arwen, ‘Secrets and Lies: Why a Full Government Apology Is Needed for the Victims of Forced UK Adoptions’ Perspective (2023). https://perspectivemag.co.uk/secrets-and-lies/.
- 14.
On The Grinch’s foundling status, which will be included in the next book.
Works Cited
Allen, Rebecca Jane and Nakonechnyi, Alex, ‘Orphans, Displaced, and Institutionalized Children’ in Baikady, R. et al (eds.) ‘The Palgrave Handbook of Global Social Problems’ (2023) Palgrave Macmillan: London.
Baglietto, C., Bordier, L., Dambach, M. and Jeannin, C., ‘Preserving “Family Relations”: An Essential Feature of the Child’s Right to Identity’ (2022) Geneva, Switzerland: Child Identity Protection (CHiP).
Browne, Kevin et al., ‘Child Abandonment and Its Prevention in Europe’ (2012) University of Nottingham.
Carp, E. Wayne, ‘Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption’ (2000) Harvard University Press: Boston.
Curtis, James Michael, ‘In Absentia Parentis: The Orphan Figure in Latter Twentieth Century Anglo-American Children’s Fantasy’ Dissertations (2016) 322.
Davey, Samantha, ‘A Failure of Proportion: Non-Consensual Adoption in England and Wales’ (2020) Hart: Oxford.
Dodson, D. J., ‘We Lived in the Blank White Spaces’: Rewriting the Paradigm of Denial in Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1997) Utopian Studies 8 (2), pp. 66–86.
Godden, Rumer, Introduction, an Episode of Sparrows (1955) xv (Kindle ed.).
Gymnich et al., ‘The Orphan in Fiction and Comics Since the 19th Century’ (2018) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Hansot, Elizabeth, ‘Selves, Survival, and Resistance in The Handmaid’s Tale’ Utopian Studies (1994) 5 (2), pp. 56–69.
Hindle, Debbie ‘Hansel and Gretel: A Complex Tale of Parent-Child Interactions’ Infant Observation (2020) pp. 1–15.
Hipchen, E ‘Adoption Geometries’ Adoption & Culture (2018) 6 (1), pp 229–247.
Kaneko-Iwase, M., ‘Nationality of Foundlings: Avoiding Statelessness Among Children of Unknown Parents Under International Nationality Law’ (2021) Springer: London.
Keating, Jenny, ‘A Child for Keeps: The History of Adoption in England, 1918–45’ (2009) Palgrave: London.
Kimball, Melanie A., ‘From Folktales to Fiction: Orphan Characters in Children's Literature’ Library Trends (1999) 47 (3), pp. 558–578.
Klarer, Mario, ‘Orality and Literacy as Gender-Supporting Structures in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”’ Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal (December 1995) 28 (4), pp. 129–142.
Morris, Robert B., ‘American Cultural Myth and the Orphan Archetype’ European Journal of American Culture (2016) 35 (2), pp. 127–145.
Nixon, Cheryl, ‘The Orphan in Eighteenth Century Law and Literature: Estate, Blood, and Body’ (2011) Routledge: London.
Noble, Arwen, ‘Secrets and Lies: Why a Full Government Apology Is Needed for the Victims of Forced UK Adoptions’ Perspective (2023) https://perspectivemag.co.uk/secrets-and-lies/.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, UN), ‘Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine 1 August 2022–31 January 2023’ (2023). https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/ukraine/2023/23-03-24-Ukraine-35th-periodic-report-ENG.pdf.
Sale, Roger, ‘Fairy Tales’ The Hudson Review (1977) 30 (3), pp. 372–394.
Simpson, Eileen, ‘Orphans Real and Imaginary’ (1987) Weidenfeld & Nicolson: New York.
Tellegen-Couperus, Olga, ‘Father and Foundling in Classical Roman Law’ Journal of Legal History (2013) 34 (2), pp. 129–138.
Vanderbeke, Dirk, ‘The Orphan in Comics and Graphic Novels’ in Gymnich, Marion et al (eds.) ‘The Orphan in Fiction and Comics Since the 19th Century’ (2018) Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Yngvesson, Barbera ‘Belonging in an Adopted World: Race, Identity, and Transnational Adoption’ (2010) University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
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Diver, A. (2023). Introduction. In: Genetic Stigma in Law and Literature. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46246-7_1
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