ABSTRACT
The cultural, ethnic, and racial experiences of transnationally, transracially adopted individuals have largely been overlooked by adoption studies. Filling this gap, this chapter highlights nearly twenty years of research with adopted Koreans that has focused on their cultural, ethnic, and racial experiences. To do this, this chapter advances an integrated critical adoption studies framework with an Asian Americanist perspective, which acknowledges and contests systems of power and oppression that drive transnational, transracial adoption. This framework pushes scholars to look beyond narratives of adoption as a “kind of paradise in which all involved live happily ever after.” With this framework in mind, the review focuses on discrimination, ethnic-racial identity, cultural socialization, and the ways in which adopted individuals pursue cultural engagement on their own terms. Finally, this chapter draws on the integrated framework to suggest policy implications and future directions for research.
