ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses suffering as an affective assemblage produced by racialisation, othering and the contested moral economy of caring at the level of family and society. It explores the modalities of the affective politics in which For Adoptees engages, in order to inquire into what such engagements allow adoptees to do and become. The chapter shows how therapy cultures that are commonly understood to work towards the normativisation of emotions and the production of happy subjects. It focuses on transnational adoption by paying specific attention to the scholarly work that was used as reading material by the attendees of For Adoptees. For Adoptees engages in what we call 'radical affect politics', which is expressed through an intentional engagement with what has been silenced, pathologised and marginalised. The Daily Bastardette frequently features drawings for the covers of books of imaginary bedtime stories for adoptees under the name Bastard Nation Bed Time Stories.
