ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what links discourse and subjectivity by exploring the idea that taking up subject positions made available by different discourses implies various consequences in terms of what can be experienced. It also describes the biological father, by occupying an undefined place, which is given definition as a result of the pushing and excessive role of the biological mother, creating an opening for flexible, active subjectivities to emerge, in contrast to the regressive subjects fixed by trauma. The chapter argues that the participant's discourses manufacture particular subjectivities characterised by a drive for truth, both in relation to the world the biological father inhabits and in relation to themselves as human subjects. It widens the space for what can be said in relation to adoptee subjectivity, problematising the differentiation between normality and abnormality, and rethinking the concept of who gets accepted in particular institutions – including the family – and who is excluded.
