Researchers

Atamhi Cawayu (he/him) is a sociologist and social anthropologist based in La Paz, Bolivia. He currently works at the Research Institute for Behavioral Sciences at the Universidad Católica Boliviana “San Pablo”. Cawayu’s research expertise is centred on childhood and child protection, with a specific interest in transnational adoption, care-leavers and sexual violence against children. In 2023, he earned his PhD from Ghent University (Belgium) with his doctoral thesis “Searching for Restoration: An Ethnographic Study of Transnational Adoption from Bolivia” that critically examines the adoption and child protection system in Bolivia with a particular focus on families of origin.

In addition to his academic work, Cawayu was a member of the Flemish Expert Panel on Intercountry Adoption (2019-2021). He is a co-founder of the Afstammingscentrum, a centre that supports people in their search for origins. He chaired its steering committee for several years and remains an active member today (2020- present). Finally, he is also co-founder of the Network of Bolivian Adoptees, an organisation created by and for Bolivian adoptees worldwide (2017-present).

Mail: batamhi@ucb.edu.bo

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Atamhi-Cawayu

Website: https://www.atamhicawayu.com

Cawayu & Sacré (2024). “Zoeken naar je kind als een vorm van verzet. Zoekstrategieën van families van oorsprong in transnationale adoptie uit Bolivia.” Tijdschrift voor Jeugd en Kinderrechten, 2024/3, 177-193, available at: https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01J9X6PYNE2T5WWGCYTXN893RX.

Cawayu & Sacré (2024). “Can first parents speak? A Spivakean Reading of first parents’ agency and resistance in transnational adoption.” Genealogy, 8(1), available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/8/1/8.

Withaeckx, Cawayu & Candaele (2023). “Inleiding: voorbij transnationale adoptie?” In Withaeckx, Cawayu & Candaele (eds.), Voorbij Transnationale Adoptie. Een kritische en meerstemmige dialoog. ASP Editions: Brussel, available at: https://www.borgerhoff-lamberigts.be/owl-press/shop/boeken/voorbij-transnationale-adoptie.

Cawayu (2023). “Irreguliere adoptiepraktijken en eerste families in transnationale adoptie uit Bolivia.” In Withaeckx, Cawayu & Candaele (eds.), Voorbij Transnationale Adoptie. Een kritische en meerstemmige dialoog. ASP Editions: Brussel, available at: https://www.borgerhoff-lamberigts.be/owl-press/shop/boeken/voorbij-transnationale-adoptie.

Withaeckx, Cawayu & Candaele (eds.) (2023). Voorbij Transnationale Adoptie. Een kritische en meerstemmige dialoog. ASP Editions: Brussel, available at: https://www.borgerhoff-lamberigts.be/owl-press/shop/boeken/voorbij-transnationale-adoptie.

Cawayu (2023). Searching for restoration. An ethnographic study of transnational adoption from Bolivia. Ghent University: Ghent. (Doctoral thesis), available at: https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/01H7XN0JF52GKC9QHE9E1QN5YM.

Sacré, Cawayu & Clemente-Martínez (2023). “Adoptees relearning their heritage languages: A postcolonial reading of language and dialogue in transnational adoption.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 66(4), 267-272, available at: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jaal.1275.

Cawayu (2023). “A letter to future adoptee researchers: On being a researcher of color in Belgium.” In Berluyk & Rahbari (eds.), Migrants Academics’ Narratives of Precarity and Resilience in Europe. Open Book Publishers, available at: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0331/chapters/10.11647/obp.0331.19.

Cawayu, Norman & Mollestad (eds.) (2022). Network of Bolivian Adoptees: Communal Histories of Displacement and Adoption. Oslo: Konsis, available at: https://www.bolivianadoptees.com/communal-histories.

Cawayu & De Graeve (2022). “From primal to colonial wound: Bolivian adoptees reclaiming the narrative of healing.” Identities, 29(5), 576-593, available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1070289X.2020.1757254.

Cammu, Candaele, Cawayu, Van de Velde (2021). Deelrapport historisch- sociaalwetenschappelijke werkgroep. Brussel: Vlaams Ministerie van Welzijn, available at: https://www.opgroeien.be/sites/default/files/documenten/expertenpanel-interlandelijke-adoptie-deelrapport-historisch-sociaalwetenschappelijke-werkgroep.pdf.