Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging

by Eleana J. Kim

Since the end of the Korean War, an estimated 200,000 children from South Korea have been adopted into white families in North America, Europe, and Australia. While these transnational adoptions were initiated as an emergency measure to find homes for mixed-race children born in the aftermath of the war, the practice grew exponentially from the 1960s through the 1980s. At the height of South Korea’s “economic miracle,” adoption became an institutionalized way of dealing with poor and illegitimate children. Most of the adoptees were raised with little exposure to Koreans or other Korean adoptees, but as adults, through global flows of communication, media, and travel, they have come into increasing contact with each other, Korean culture, and the South Korean state. Since the 1990s, as Korean children have continued to leave to be adopted in the West, a growing number of adult adoptees have been returning to Korea to seek their cultural and biological origins. In this fascinating ethnography, Eleana J. Kim examines the history of Korean adoption, the emergence of a distinctive adoptee collective identity, and adoptee returns to Korea in relation to South Korean modernity and globalization. Kim draws on interviews with adult adoptees, social workers, NGO volunteers, adoptee activists, scholars, and journalists in the U.S., Europe, and South Korea, as well as on observations at international adoptee conferences, regional organization meetings, and government-sponsored motherland tours.

Genres: Adoption, Nonfiction, Asian American, Anthropology

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Soojung Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to see how a book can be completely awesome and still put you to sleep every single time, read this one. Every sentence was so true and validating, and yet I could barely stay concious to enjoy it.

[Revere · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an ethnographic piece exploring the history and politics surrounding transnational Korean adoptees. While Eleana Kim's research was impeccable in shedding light on adoptee issues and in answering her main research questions, her dense writing style made it hard at times to fully grasp the concepts she was delivering. Despite this, the structure of her book was well-organized in introducing background information, then addressing the issues of kinship and citizenship, and concluding with domestic Korean sentiment and countering opinions from adoptees.

With the mention of domestic Koreans, I think that their perspective, especially of those who were volunteers at adoptee conferences, was noticeably lacking. I would have preferred greater input from the Koreans as Kim portrays the adoptees as highly politicized by Korean lawmakers and sensationalized by the media yet does not mention much about them in the book. Overall, the central themes of globalization-fueled change, the paradox of identity crises among adoptees (sweet yet bitter, pitiful yet enviable, of the nation yet outside it), and the deterritorialization of the adoptee ‘counterpublic’ taught me a lot about place and belonging within a group I had no prior knowledge on.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of overlap with To Save the Children of Korea and Adopting for God, but still found new nuggets of info. The author’s vocab is insane (as in, grab a dictionary to look words up) and sentences were sometimes complex, but didn’t impact readability.