Adoption in Colonial Vietnam
From: Nicolas Lainez
Date: 2009/1/14
Dear list,
Has anybody heard the expression “quá phòng tử” meaning “transfer household child” or “transferring the child to another household” used in the context of adoption during the colonial period?
Nguyên Van Minh published a short note about slavery and child circulation in L’Annam Nouveau (n. 64, September 6th, 1931), but I don’t understand very well the practices he describes. According to him, quá phòng tử authorizes a child cession or transfer from the genitor parents to the adoptive parents in exchange for money. He says "L’enfant vendu doit considérer ses parents adoptifs comme ses auteurs véritables et leur obéir comme s’il était leur propre fils. Faute de quoi, il sera poursuivi pour manquement à la pitié filiale.". Paternal authority seems to be legally transferred from one father to the other (adoptive), but the author differentiates this practice with another he calls “sale for adoption”, considered as illegal and immoral.
Has anybody heard the expression quá phòng tử, or a similar one within the context of adoption in the colonial of contemporary period? Could anybody bring some light to this point?
Thanks in advance.
Regards.
Nicolas Lainez
PhD student, Vietnam
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
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From: Dinh Lu Giang <lugiangdinh@gmail.com>
Date: 2009/1/14
To: Nicolas Lainez <niklainez@yahoo.com>, Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Dear Nicolas,
As far as I know, "Quá phòng tử" is a term used to call a child adopted by a family. That family accepts that child to live with his/her real mother, but the child must not take his/her own family name. Sorry I don't know about the context of adoption during the colonial period.
J'étais à Châu Đốc hier mais j'vais pas de temps de te voir.
Giang
--
Dinh Lu Giang,
PhD student on Viet - Khmer bilingualism and bilingual education
Dept. of Vietnamese Studies,
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University - HCMC - Vietnam