Adopted Territory

This week's readings discussed the relationship between the concepts of identity and mobility within marginalized ethnic identities within the United States, from both the perspective of adoptees and those who have immigrated. Kim's text, Adopted Territories, examines the complex relationship which South Korean adoptees have with themselves on an introspective level, to adoptees on an interrelational level, and to society at large on a scale of marginalization. Mohanty explores these same concepts in chapter 5 of her text, however, her approach is based on her identity as an Indian born US citizens, and the blatant racism she faces in her profession. She relates these experiences directly with her work as an international feminist scholar.

I found that the Kim text function primarily as a thorough ethnographic study on the sociocultural effects of being a foreign-born adoptee.  I was interested in her analysis of the Americanization of South Korean names, and the erasure of records such as birthdays and parentage, leading to the construction of an identity that is rooted in American culture. However, the assimilation into broader social life is not so simple for these individuals. As Kim puts it, adoptees become "conspicuous in racialized terrains where names and phenotypes are expected to 'match'" (89). Her studies throughout chapter two delved further into the complexities of the situation faced by these adoptees. However, I felt it was perhaps unclear what her argument was regarding the connection they are able to forge between other Korean adoptees. She spends some time discussing the disidentification aspect of being a Korean adoptee and the aversion to socializing with other peers in the same situation, however, she then discusses the close and unspoken bonds that can be formed between them. To me it was unclear exactly what she was attempting to communicate.

Mohanty's chapter details her experiences with facing racism for being a South Asian in the United States. Some of her struggles parallel those faced by the adoptees studied in Kim's work, such as the condescending remarks about their fluency in English. Mohanty points out how her work in feminist studies has helped her to examine the underlying social issues of thriving in the US as a foreign-born citizen. She writes in chapter 5 that "claiming racial identities based on history, social location, and experience is always a matter of collective analysis and politics." This framework illuminated some of the questions that arose with me while I was reading the Kim text, as I then was able to see how Kim's varied arguments regarding the experience of the adoptees was based on a collective experience of their specific locations and social conditions.