While reading, I instantly began to make connections to Taking Haiti because there is such a stong sense of paternalism in this adoption process. Somehow , Korea's orphaned children became the responsibilty of the U.S. Taking children out of their birth countries so that they may have a better life, more opportunities, and better chances of becoming successful are pateranlistic in itself. These adopted parents somehow knows whats best for these children without even meeting them-- America is the best option for anyone's life, obviously. This "heroic" mentality really bothered me.
Not once is the child's welfare really put into quesstion. Adoption became a trend, and Korean children became a commodity. while Americans were desperately attempting to fit into their Americanhood, transnational adoption became another symbol of chivalry, heroism, and duty in which began to define Americaness. These children meant nothing but a status symbol to the American adopters; it was a stamp of their true Americanhood. This reminds me of Brennan in What's Love Got to do WIth It? in that there is a desire for people of the third world.
While Americans defined what it means to be American through transnational adoption, the adoptees struggled to self-identify. They are living in a family that, in the privacy of their homes, are the same, but in public they are treated differntly. How can someone truly identify themselves living in such a duality. Adoptees seem to have no actual space. Americans could not accept them as American because of outward appearaces, and Koreans could not accept them as Koreans because of their cultural upbringing. Eventually, adoptees had to create their own space, virtually. They could occupy this space without being judged; they were among others who had the same unique experience of being adopted transnationally.
A final point that really interested me was the idea of a globalized economy. South Korea is highly dependent upon the adoption proccess becauase it brings in 15-20 million dollars yearly. I made a not-so-obvious connection to Mohanty with the privatization of the academy. I connected these two because the welfare of people become unimportant once money gets involved. Stopping these adoptions would be the best answer, but because it was financially rewarding, it could not be completely expelled.
Money began to buy children! Americans actually placed a monetary value on a life that they claim to love and care about so much. With the case of the farmers attempting to adopt a Korean child, or the couple who actually circled the child they wanted as if it was a shopping catlogue reveals the true heart of the American adopters. They felt entitled to these children. They wanted so desperately to fit into true Americanhood that exploiting 1) Korean women who have to give up their children at birth, which opens an oportunity for the American couple who is infertile and 2) Korean children who are status symbols to Americans did not matter. As long as they fit the description of a "good American."
While Americans defined what it means to be American through transnational adoption, the adoptees struggled to self-identify. They are living in a family that, in the privacy of their homes, are the same, but in public they are treated differntly. How can someone truly identify themselves living in such a duality. Adoptees seem to have no actual space. Americans could not accept them as American because of outward appearaces, and Koreans could not accept them as Koreans because of their cultural upbringing. Eventually, adoptees had to create their own space, virtually. They could occupy this space without being judged; they were among others who had the same unique experience of being adopted transnationally.
A final point that really interested me was the idea of a globalized economy. South Korea is highly dependent upon the adoption proccess becauase it brings in 15-20 million dollars yearly. I made a not-so-obvious connection to Mohanty with the privatization of the academy. I connected these two because the welfare of people become unimportant once money gets involved. Stopping these adoptions would be the best answer, but because it was financially rewarding, it could not be completely expelled.
Money began to buy children! Americans actually placed a monetary value on a life that they claim to love and care about so much. With the case of the farmers attempting to adopt a Korean child, or the couple who actually circled the child they wanted as if it was a shopping catlogue reveals the true heart of the American adopters. They felt entitled to these children. They wanted so desperately to fit into true Americanhood that exploiting 1) Korean women who have to give up their children at birth, which opens an oportunity for the American couple who is infertile and 2) Korean children who are status symbols to Americans did not matter. As long as they fit the description of a "good American."
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