Taught to be Ashamed and Grateful: Cross-Generational Narratives From Korean Adoptees

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Transnational and Raciolinguistic Perspectives for Advocacy and Empowerment (Table 39)

Abstract

Transracial adoptees live with unique developmental influences since the family they are adopted into is of a different race than their own. Although adoption is often marketed as a solution to rehome suffering children, many adoptees still become victims of abuse, neglect, and discrimination. This paper reveals how this contradiction conveys messages that adoptees weave in their adulthood understanding of themselves. Using qualitative methods derived from grounded theory, I conducted and analyzed interviews with four transracial Korean adoptees to reveal what messages were conveyed in the narratives told to them. They touch on themes pertaining to abuse, bullying, and stereotypes. This paper closes with suggestions for how practitioners and researchers can support transracial, intercountry adoptees.

Author

• Margaret Inah Jeong, University of Illinois at Chicago