Reframing Transracial Adoption: Adopted Koreans, White Parents, and the Politics of Kinship (Asian American History & Culture) - Hardcover

Brian, Kristi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 143990183X ISBN 13: 9781439901830

Publisher: Temple University Press, 2012

Synopsis

A provocative critique of transnational, transracial adoption from a critical race and feminist perspective and a vision for reform

About this title

Book Description

Until the late twentieth century, the majority of foreign-born children adopted in the United States came from Korea. In the absorbing book Reframing Transracial Adoption, Kristi Brian investigates the power dynamics at work between the white families, the Korean adoptees, and the unknown birth mothers. Brian conducts interviews with adult adopted Koreans, adoptive parents, and adoption agency facilitators in the United States to explore the conflicting interpretations of race, culture, multiculturalism, and family.

Brian argues for broad changes as she critiques the so-called "colorblind" adoption policy in the United States. Analyzing the process of kinship formation, the racial aspects of these adoptions, and the experience of adoptees, she reveals the stifling impact of dominant nuclear-family ideologies and the crowded intersections of competing racial discourses.

Brian finds a resolution in the efforts of adult adoptees to form coherent identities and launch powerful adoption reform movements.

About the Author

Kristi Brian teaches in the Women and Gender Studies Program and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the College of Charleston.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 143990183X
• ISBN 13: 9781439901830
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 230