ethnos,฀vol.฀71:3,฀sept.฀2006฀(pp.฀293–316) ©฀Routledge฀Journals,฀Taylor฀and฀Francis,฀on฀behalf฀of฀the฀Museum฀of฀Ethnography issn฀0014-1844฀print/issn฀1469-588x฀online.฀doi:฀10.1080/00141840600902679 To Kin a Transnationally Adopted Child in Norway and Spain: The Achievement of Resemblances and Belonging Signe Howell & Diana Marre University฀of฀Oslo,฀Norway฀&฀University฀of฀Barcelona,฀Spain abstract Transnational adoption has become a major means for involuntarily childless people to become a family, and for people who do not want to go through the ‘normal’ procedures to obtain a child. In this paper we present a comparative analysis of some pertinent features pertaining to the understanding of kinship that arise out of the practice of transnational adoption in Norway and Spain. For a variety of reasons, these two countries have achieved a leading role in the world of transnational adoption in so far as they adopt more children per capita than any other country. This is particularly interesting in light of the very different social and political situation of these two countries. Our focus will be on the concepts employed in the kinning process by adoptive parents and on how they symbolize bodies and personalities in attempts to create meaningful resemblances between themselves and their children. keywords Transnational adoption, kinning processes, symbolizing bodies A doption of the unrelated child gives rise to debates about the meaning of kinship, not only amongst anthropologists and those who adopt, but also amongst those who are involved in the administration of adoptions. In societies – such as those of Western Europe and North America – where kinship is predicated upon a model of biological connectedness between parents and children, where ‘[n]ature itself ’, in the words of M. Strathern, ‘provide[s] the very model for domaining’ (1992:177), the debates become particularly intense. In the case of transnational adoption, issues of race, ethnicity and culture further complicate the issues. With empirical material from Norway and Spain, 1 we shall examine some of the debates. Our focus will be on the ways adoptive parents of children from the Third World and Eastern Europe handle the personal challenges involved in the practice. Howell.indd 1 06-08-04 12.47.45