Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"
Outsourced Children takes us into the world of 'relinquished children' in China. It offers insights into the role of state policy, global competition and transnational circuits in shaping the meanings and value of children within neoliberalism. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in childhood in the global era."—Nazli Kibria, Boston University
"
Outsourced Children is a provocative analysis of the global assemblages of care around children in Chinese orphanages. Drawing on a deep well of original fieldwork, Wang bring to life the ideologies, economic inequalities, and gendered and raced imaginaries that swirl around children at the intersections of 'soft power' and 'outsourced intimacy.'"—Sara Dorow, University of Alberta
"Wang's compelling ethnography shows how state agendas, market imperatives, and conflicting visions of childcare held by Western do-gooders and Chinese caregivers create a transnational market in special needs children that serves different agendas. A caringly crafted, unsettling, yet humane account of how the one-child policy continues to remake our world."—Susan Greenhalgh, Harvard University
"Wang's vivid and accessible writing, and her ability to raise difficult issues about the best interests of children in local, national, and transnational contexts makes
Outsourced Children a compelling read for undergraduate and graduate students, policymakers, and general readers. "—Catherine Ceniza Choy,
H-Diplo"A reflexive approach Wang employs in the presentation of her ethnographic study definitely plays a significant role in this book. Readers are able to understand how the author's analyses have come about through the discussion of her own identities and subjectivity, which is a methodological strength of the book. Compelling parts of
Outsourced Children include Wang's analysis of a particular type of globalization process in which children are the integral part of the PRC's movement toward modernization as well as how the children serve an important role in Westerners' desire to participate prominently in international humanitarianism."—Kazuyo Kubo,
American Journal of Sociology"
Outsourced Children: Orphanage Care and Adoption in Globalizing China offers rich insight into global power dynamics at political and personal levels and serves as a catalyst for further inquiries into international relations, experiences of marginalized populations, and the shifting salience of transnational, racial, and ethnic identities."––Michelle Samura, Cala Gin, Dorcas Hot, and Florencia Park,
Journal of Asian American StudiesTable of Contents1. Introduction: Children and the Politics of Outsourced Intimacy in China
2. Survival of the Fittest: Relinquished Children in an Era of "High Quality"
3. From "Missing Girls" to America's Sweethearts: Adoption and the Reversal of Fortune for Healthy Chinese Daughters
4. The West to the Rescue? Outsourced Intimacy in the Tomorrow's Children Unit
5. The Limits of Outsourced Intimacy: Contested Logics of Care at the Yongping Orphanage
6. Waiting Children Finally Belong: The Rise of Special Needs Adoption
7. Conclusion: Retying the Red Thread
