Reframing Transracial Adoption: Adopted Koreans, White Parents, and the Politics of Kinship

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

RefRaming TRansRacial adopTion In the series Asian American History and Culture, edited by Sucheng Chan, David Palumbo-Liu, Michael Omi, K. Scott Wong, and Linda Trinh Võ Also in this series: Belinda Kong, Tiananmen Fictions outside the Square: The Chinese Literary Diaspora and the Politics of Global Culture Bindi V. Shah, Laotian Daughters: Working toward Community, Belonging, and Environmental Justice Cherstin M. Lyon, Prisons and Patriots: Japanese American Wartime Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, and Historical Memory Shelley Sang-Hee Lee, Claiming the Oriental Gateway: Prewar Seattle and Japanese America Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, This Is All I Choose to Tell: History and Hybridity in Vietnamese American Literature Christian Collet and Pei-te Lien, eds., The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans Min Zhou, Contemporary Chinese America: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Community Transformation Kathleen S. Yep, Outside the Paint: When Basketball Ruled at the Chinese Playground Benito M. Vergara Jr., Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City Jonathan Y. Okamura, Ethnicity and Inequality in Hawai‘i Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y. Hsu, eds., Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture K. Scott Wong, Americans First: Chinese Americans and the Second World War Lisa Yun, The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba Estella Habal, San Francisco’s International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement Thomas P. Kim, The Racial Logic of Politics: Asian Americans and Party Competition Sucheng Chan, ed., The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation: Stories of War, Revolution, Flight, and New Beginnings Antonio T. Tiongson Jr., Edgardo V. Gutierrez, and Ricardo V. Gutierrez, eds., Positively No Filipinos Allowed: Building Communities and Discourse Sucheng Chan, ed., Chinese American Transnationalism: The Flow of People, Resources, and Ideas between China and America during the Exclusion Era Rajini Srikanth, The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America Keith Lawrence and Floyd Cheung, eds., Recovered Legacies: Authority and Identity in Early Asian American Literature Linda Trinh Võ, Mobilizing an Asian American Community Franklin S. Odo, No Sword to Bury: Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i during World War II Josephine Lee, Imogene L. Lim, and Yuko Matsukawa, eds., Re/collecting Early Asian America: Essays in Cultural History Linda Trinh Võ and Rick Bonus, eds., Contemporary Asian American Communities: Intersections and Divergences Sunaina Marr Maira, Desis in the House: Indian American Youth Culture in New York City Teresa Williams-León and Cynthia Nakashima, eds., The Sum of Our Parts: Mixed-Heritage Asian Americans Kristi Brian RefRaming TRansRacial adopTion TEMPLE UNIVERSIT Y PRESS PHIL ADELPHIA Adopted Koreans, White Parents, and the Politics of Kinship Temple UniversiTy press philadelphia, pennsylvania 19122 www.temple.edu/tempress Copyright © 2012 by Temple University All rights reserved published 2012 library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data Brian, Kristi, 1969– reframing transracial adoption : adopted Koreans, white parents, and the politics of kinship / Kristi Brian. p. cm. — (Asian American history and culture) includes bibliographical references and index. isBn 978-1-4399-0183-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — isBn 978-1-4399-0184-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) — isBn 978-1-4399-0185-4 (e-book) 1. interracial adoption—United states. 2. interracial adoption—Korea (south) 3. Adopted children—Korea (south) 4. Korean American children. 5. ethnicity. i. Title. Hv875.64.B75 2012 362.734089′957073—dc23 2011047599 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American national standard for information sciences—permanence of paper for printed library materials, Ansi Z39.48-1992 printed in the United states of America 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 Kristi Brian teaches courses in Women’s and Gender Studies and Anthropology and is the Director of Diversity Education and Training at the College of Charleston. For Dorel, Min, and Hyung-Rae ...