Adopting ‘imaginaries’: international adoption in the Spanish press

Abstract

During the last century, mass media joined the institutions which had traditionally provided the elements for shaping perceptions of reality. As a result, they became central to the process of constructing social reality and to the functioning of modern societies. Among these media, the press is especially significant in delineating dominant cultural patterns and social values and through its use of language, building collective ‘imaginaries’ that influence public opinion. Between 1997 and 2010, 46,638 children adopted from abroad came to live in Spain¹ and of those, 11,459 (24.5%) went to families in Catalonia. They came from 36 different countries, mostly included in the category of ‘Global South’. Thus, they carry phenotypes that are different from those prevailing in Catalonia but are similar to those of many immigrants living in the region. As media portrayals will affect the (re)construction and transmission of collective ‘imaginaries’ on adoption, adopters, adoptees and the originating and receiving countries, an analysis of the language used in 796 articles referring to intercountry adoption, published between 1997 and 2011 in two of the major newspapers in Catalonia, was undertaken.²