The social reality of Atalychestvo in Abkhazia in the 19th and Start of the 20th Century, by Shalva Inal-Ipa

(1955) Sukhum, Alashara

Translated by Zaira, K. Hewitt and G. Hewitt (CHAPTER I: SUCKLING-ADOPTION and ATALYK FOSTERAGE)

According to Soviet ethnography, the practice of adoption -- developed in response to blood-feud, childlessness, and the acquisition of patronage -- essentially has nothing in common with  atalychestvo.  But whilst it should be clearly distinguished from the institution under investigation, it still has a certain closeness to  atalychestvo: possibly it took shape after the pattern, and under the influence, of  atalychestvo and so represents one of its surviving variants, i.e. a phenomenon of seconday elaboration. Either way, it is impossible to ignore in a work on atalychestvo the broader issue of adoption.

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