Sunday Times (UK): Long-range love of Obama’s absent mother

[Jackeens]

In his autobiographical memoir, Barack Obama’s mother is almost as distant a figure as his absent Kenyan father: America’s president-elect was largely brought up by his grandparents in Hawaii. But a trove of private letters obtained by The Sunday Times highlights her devotion to her son and her struggle to make ends meet as an anthropologist in Indonesia.

It was as a free-spirited student in Hawaii that Ann Dunham fell pregnant and married Obama’s father at 18, at a time when interracial unions were still illegal in many parts of America. They divorced when Obama was two and she later married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian. It was the start of a long love affair with his country, although the marriage did not last.

Dunham died at 52 of ovarian cancer in 1995, leaving behind a 1,000-page doctoral thesis on peasant blacksmithing in Indonesia, which friends still hope will gain her academic recognition. They believe her support for micro-financing projects and women’s work in Indonesia influenced Obama’s determination to build a grassroots campaign for president - and may yet shape his economic agenda in office.

Alice Dewey, a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii, was Dunham’s close friend and thesis supervisor. For her, Obama will always be “Barry”, as his mother called him. Dunham also had a daughter from her second marriage, Maya Soetoro-Ng, who is now a teacher in Hawaii.


The rest of the article can be read at:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5213328.ece

[MamaDem]

1. Thank you for sharing this....this is one of the things I love about this site...

I don't post all that much but it's a treasure trove of information I couldn't otherwise find on my own, so thank you to you and everyone else who shares what they find meaningful - it's meaningful to others like me too!

:toast:

Edit: spelling

[Jackeens]

2. You're more than welcome MamaDem - I know what you mean, endless great info on DU. n/t

[sandnsea]

3. Nice, but there's a 4 paragraph limit

due to copyright violations.

[Jackeens]

5. Ooops, SO sorry - now edited to 4 pars, link provided. Sorry again. n/t

[The Wielding Truth]

4. Thank you, Jackeens, this is a beautiful view of our pres-elect.

[melody]

6. What a great article -- thanks! n/t

[kwenu]

7. I have had many arguments about people playing up the absent Black father angle when

in fact Obama was abandoned by BOTH of his parents. Thank God for Obama's grandparents who stepped up to the plate.

[shimmergal]

12. Objection! Objection!

It's my understanding that she gave young Barry a choice: he could either go back to Indonesia and live with her while she did her thesis research, or stay in Hawaii with his grandparents. He chose the latter.

To call this abandoning him is greatly unfair, not to mention sexist. Has anyone spoken of John McCain's father as abandoning him? -- even though apparently he was away at sea a much greater percentage of his son's childhood.

Now I don't doubt that whatever he'd chosen, it may have felt to the boy like his mother abandoned him. That's just the way kids are likely to feel. But an outside observer, years later, should have better sense than to use this terminology about a woman who seems to have been admirable and caring.

She wanted him to grow up American. If he had spent those years in Indonesia, would he be so likely, or so well equipped, to become President? I doubt it.

[me b zola]

14. Thank you for speaking up for Ms Stanley-Ann

Really. Thank you.

[kwenu]

18. OVERRULED! For a PARENT to give a CHILD that kind of choice is blatantly irresponsible.

If Obama's mother's primary concern was to ensure her child grew up American she should have returned to United States and raised HER child. Obama's father was clearly out of the picture (ABANDONMENT) by that time so she was briefly a single parent before remarriage. She then sent one of her children (Obama) away to be raised by his grandparents not temporarily, PERMANENTLY. That is ABANDONMENT. Unless life in Indonesia was life threatening, or there was some other legitimate reason why she couldn't raise HER child, the excuse of "She wanted him to be American" I think, is silly.

If John McCain's father's work required him to be away from his children that IS different. The question being when he DID have the opportunity(obligation, in fact) to be with his children; WAS he there with his children? If not, that is ABANDONMENT.


My own father (a strong wonderful Black man who happily spent every minute he could with his children) passed away from heart problems when I was a young child. It was hard for my mother and life was difficult to say the least but the very mention of sending her children away for convenience (even to my grandparents)would have drawn an emphatic and lightening quick "Over my dead body!" I know without a doubt the same thing would have been said by my father had my mother been lost.

I was fortunate to have strong devoted parents. Obama was fortunate to have strong devoted grandparents. BUT, Obama's parents SUCKED as parents! BOTH OF THEM!

[carpe diem]

20. that's a mighty harsh judgement to make of people

you don't know...if you did know Obama's mother and are personally familiar with their circumstances then i respect your assessment, but, if your condemnation is based on what you heard or read somewhere other than from Barack and Maya then you are really out of line...it's strange that Barack and his sister have such fond and affectionate memories of their mother yet you are shouting your outrage as if she caused you some kind of suffering...jeeze!

[carpe diem]

15. i don't see it that way at all...

...it's one thing to walk out on your kid shortly after it's born, it's another to raise your child til the age of 10 or 11 and then send him to your grandparents so he can grow up Americanized and properly educated...the father did what was better for himself, the mother was trying to do what was best for her child and it is likely he is much better off today because of the decisions she made on his behalf even though to him,as a child, he probably would have just preferred to be with his mom...

[kwenu]

19. Smells like a double standard to me. We tend to give the benefit of doubt to females when it comes

children even when they don't deserve it.

[cali]

16. he was certainly NOT abandoned by his mother, He most

definitely sees it very differently from that. And who are you to say differently? You actually think YOU know better than Obama. In any case, he didn't live with his grandparents until he was 10 and he spents summer and xmas holidays with his mother. Not much different from my brother, who went away to boarding school at 12.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. That is a very touching story. Ann Dunham was a very strong and loving woman.

[XOKCowboy]

9. The Biography Channel did an episode with most of this information

It especially showed how Ann Dunham spent her life as an anthropologist and like her son later, working for local causes in low income areas. She was a free-spirit for her time but had a good heart.

[firedupdem]

10. Very nice read...thanks for this! n/t

[Clio the Leo]

11. That's sweet, but it's wrong.....

To say, "Barack Obama’s mother is almost as distant a figure as his absent Kenyan father:" is inaccurate. Barack's mother had a very strong influence on his life and he makes that abundantly clear.

Prime example, fill in the blank, I'm sure we all know the story (paraphrasing) "When we were livingin Indonesia, my mother would wake me up at 4am to study English and when I would complain she would say, 'this is not party for me either ______!"

And that's just one of the many, many examples I could give.

[fujiyama]

13. It just makes me so sad

that no one that raised Obama could see what he became.

I have to read/listen to Dreams from my Father is the next few weeks..

[1monster]

17. What a beautiful tribute. NT