Adopsjon og tilhørighet på Wogeo, Papua Ny-Guinea

Abstract

As is the case many places in Oceania, adoption is of frequent occurrence in Wogeo Island, Papua New Guinea. Through descriptions of adoption as it is practised on the island, the author shows how people's belonging is created in many different ways and that an exclusive focus on descent and biological filiation not sufficiently explains the constitution of Wogeo sociality. Contrary to what is the case in Norway, where relations of adoption are established as substitutes of biological relations, the author maintains that adoption in Wogeo is not primarily about childlessness and a wish to create a family. Relations of adoption do not replace other, more «authentic» relations but are, in their own right, essential to the constitution of the social landscape. This social landscape is closely connected to the geographical landscape in the sense that places and the history of places marks out where and together with whom people belong. Adoptions are often said to «follow pathways» and «to follow a pathway» is to follow the history of the places and the history of the relations between people belonging to places.