Adoptive Motherhood in India: An Analysis Through Myths and Critical Theories

Abstract

Motherhood, biological or otherwise, is exclusively dedicated to the nurturance of children. The experience of motherhood, institutionalized and ghettoized under patriarchy, has often been subjected to the systematic massacring of female potentialities (Rich 13). History has been a witness to the making of biological mothers—sometimes without a choice of their own and the mothering capacities of women are often applauded based on their birthing capacities. What, therefore, becomes unnoticed in the array of societal expectations, is the trials and tribulations of the women in general, to fulfil the normative criteria of biological motherhood. As motherhood becomes a sacred calling for most women, the desire for a genetic child gets strengthened in the maternal psyche. And the (in)capability to further the species through biological reproduction makes the women discover other avenues for fulfilling this prefixed maternal capacity. This paper is an attempt to explore the various mythologies surrounding adoptive motherhood and mothering in India while deciphering the feminist analysis of the practice of adoptive mothering and its importance for maintaining the sanctity of motherhood in general.