Once a Mother. Relinquishment and adoption from the perspective of unmarried mothers in South India

Abstract

This research is an anthropological investigation into the decision-making processes of unmarried mothers in Tamil Nadu with regard to the relinquishment or acceptance of their children. This anthropological investigation focuses on these decision-making processes from the mothers' perspectives and elaborates on their experiences, feelings, interests and priorities. Priority has been given to their life stories to bring in the voices of a category of women stifled in a culture that denies their existence. This dissertation is an exploration of the decisive factors as communicated by these mothers. What are the decisive factors that tip the scale towards relinquishing children or raising them against the grain? Relevant notions associated with these decisive factors are contextualized, articulated and mirrored against dominant cultural meanings and discourses.