A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia

This article focuses on the care of Malaysian children when they are not raised by their kins and examines two Malaysian community-centred institutions for unattached or neglected children in Penang. It first describes how two women in charge of these institutions work, as well as the ethnic landsca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Silvia Vignato
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ledizioni 2014-11-01
Series:Antropologia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/256
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849716442833879040
author Silvia Vignato
author_facet Silvia Vignato
author_sort Silvia Vignato
collection DOAJ
description This article focuses on the care of Malaysian children when they are not raised by their kins and examines two Malaysian community-centred institutions for unattached or neglected children in Penang. It first describes how two women in charge of these institutions work, as well as the ethnic landscape they move within. Then, it analyses what principles of relation they perfect and enact. Finally, it considers the interaction between the two homes and some outputs of the Malaysian State to highlight what imagination informs the caregivers and the state officers they relate to. It will be argued that the people who live in the two homes are powerful agents of the main social forces in Malaysia, and that they are not external or resistant actors, nor necessarily unfortunate and marginal in spite of the fact that they learn to use their marginality as a means of survival.
format Article
id doaj-art-89cb5fd7c5b04e668bf393df4598a9b5
institution DOAJ
issn 2281-4043
2420-8469
language English
publishDate 2014-11-01
publisher Ledizioni
record_format Article
series Antropologia
spelling doaj-art-89cb5fd7c5b04e668bf393df4598a9b52025-08-20T03:12:59ZengLedizioniAntropologia2281-40432420-84692014-11-0111 N.S.10.14672/ada2014256%p186A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in MalaysiaSilvia VignatoThis article focuses on the care of Malaysian children when they are not raised by their kins and examines two Malaysian community-centred institutions for unattached or neglected children in Penang. It first describes how two women in charge of these institutions work, as well as the ethnic landscape they move within. Then, it analyses what principles of relation they perfect and enact. Finally, it considers the interaction between the two homes and some outputs of the Malaysian State to highlight what imagination informs the caregivers and the state officers they relate to. It will be argued that the people who live in the two homes are powerful agents of the main social forces in Malaysia, and that they are not external or resistant actors, nor necessarily unfortunate and marginal in spite of the fact that they learn to use their marginality as a means of survival.https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/256anthropologyMalaysiafosteringcharitychildrenethnicity
spellingShingle Silvia Vignato
A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
Antropologia
anthropology
Malaysia
fostering
charity
children
ethnicity
title A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
title_full A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
title_fullStr A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
title_short A Family Scene with Babies: Non-institutional Ethnic Child Fostering in Malaysia
title_sort family scene with babies non institutional ethnic child fostering in malaysia
topic anthropology
Malaysia
fostering
charity
children
ethnicity
url https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/256
work_keys_str_mv AT silviavignato afamilyscenewithbabiesnoninstitutionalethnicchildfosteringinmalaysia
AT silviavignato familyscenewithbabiesnoninstitutionalethnicchildfosteringinmalaysia