Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences, and Racial Exceptionalism

Asian American Studies Today

by Kim Park Nelson

The first Korean adoptees were powerful symbols of American superiority in the Cold War; as Korean adoption continued, adoptees' visibility as Asians faded as they became a geopolitical success story—all-American children in loving white families. In Invisible Asians, Kim Park Nelson analyzes the processes by which Korean American adoptees’ have been rendered racially invisible, and how that invisibility facilitates their treatment as exceptional subjects within the context of American race relations and in government policies. Invisible Asians draws on the life stories of more than sixty adult Korean adoptees in three Minnesota, home to the largest concentration of Korean adoptees in the United States; the Pacific Northwest, where many of the first Korean adoptees were raised; and Seoul, home to hundreds of adult adoptees who have returned to South Korea to live and work. Their experiences underpin a critical examination of research and policy making about transnational adoption from the 1950s to the present day. Park Nelson connects the invisibility of Korean adoptees to the ambiguous racial positioning of Asian Americans in American culture, and explores the implications of invisibility for Korean adoptees as they navigate race, culture, and nationality.  Raised in white families, they are ideal racial subjects in support of the trope of “colorblindness” as a “cure for racism” in America, and continue to enjoy the most privileged legal status in terms of immigration and naturalization of any immigrant group, built on regulations created specifically to facilitate the transfer of foreign children to American families. Invisible Asians offers an engaging account that makes an important contribution to our understanding of race in America, and illuminates issues of power and identity in a globalized world. 

Genres: Adoption, Nonfiction, Race, Asian American, History, Academic

249 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 18, 2016

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many thoughts after finishing this one.

As an adoptive parent of a Korean child, some of this was difficult to read but ultimately important to get this perspective.

I do feel like I gained some guiding principles for how to best raise my child to navigate the in between world he will live in and that is the best I could hope for.

If I had one complaint, it might be around her selection of research subjects. Outside of one interview, it seemed all had very negative experiences growing up and with their adoptive families. Is this number truly this disproportionate or do the likely members of adult adoptee groups skew to one side of the spectrum. I wish she could have found more people from outside these groups to connect with but understand the logistical challenges of even completing this work as is.

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first heard Kim Park Nelson talking about her research into Korean adoptees on Minnesota Public Radio. While we teach at the same university, I had not met her as she teaches classes online from her home in the Twin Cities. I later heard her speak in Moorhead, where I live. I was impressed with her research and how her research had parallels to research I had done on missionary children. The book is based on many oral interviews done in Minnesota, the Pacific Northwest and South Korea. The book is extremely well-researched and she has many insights into the "in-betweenness" of Korean adoptees, who often felt they were White growing up often as the only Asian-Americans in their families and home towns and later realizing that they were Asian Americans. Going back to their birth places in Korea does not ease these feelings as they struggle to understand the culture and language there. The book is very comprehensive and has many interesting insights.

[Yuna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an academic look at Asian (especially Korean American) adoptee experiences, and though very well researched it can be a dry read. The introduction and opening chapters are a bit slow because the author goes into considerable detail on the how and why of the methods she chose for her research, and there's a lot of recounting the history of transnational adoption.

I appreciate that this is written by an adopted Korean, and includes oral histories from several adopted Koreans. Nelson lists that one of her primary goals for this book was "to understand, and help others to understand, the experience of Korean American adoptees as a powerful lens through which to understand the multiplicities of Asian American identity, American race relations, US-Asian foreign relations, and historical changes in the American family." I think she succeeds, but there are times where some of the conclusions drawn from her research read to me like big leaps. I also grew frustrated with some of these conclusions because while the research is great at pointing out how internalized racism can lead to negative adoption experiences, instead of looking at how this can be combated, the implied takeaway was that transracial adoption can never work. Even in the cases where families did deal with racist incidents better, and/or adoptees felt like they had a more positive experience, these are seen as outliers instead of cases to explore *why* that experience could be considered more positive.

Nevertheless, it's a very informative read, and a good contrast to the nonfiction memoir/essay collections out there from adoptee perspectives.