In-between (Un)familiar Homes: Korean Adoptees’ Transnational Return Experiences and Emotions in Memoirs

Thursday, August 8 | 10AM | Hybrid format in-person in HC 1315 (Vancouver Campus) and on Zoom

Asbtract:
With the emergence in the 2000s of discussions of diaspora, researchers took up the question of the Korean diaspora and its dispersion. However, Koreans adopted outside of the Korean Peninsula were erased in history to hide the nation’s neglect of war orphans, mixed or “interracial” children, and the lack of a social welfare system for domestic adoption. Yet this marginalized history survived in the form of memoirs as a rich repository of affects and emotions reflecting the author’s engagement with the self. This thesis presents three memoirs by two authors who are international adoptees in North America: The Language of Blood (2003) and Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee’s Return to Korea (2009) written by a Korean-American writer Jane Jeong Trenka, and Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. (2019) by a Korean-Canadian writer Jenny Heijun Wills. With affect theory, this research discloses the sense of distance the authors feel towards their ethnic home country in common, Korea.

Keywords: Korean diaspora, adoptees, international adoption, memoir, emotion, affect

Examining Committee:
Chair: Dr. Stacy Pigg, Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
Supervisor: Dr. Cindy Patton, Professor Emeritus, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
Committee Member: Dr. Barbara Mitchell, Professor, Sociology & Anthropology, SFU
External Examiner: Dr. Christina Yi, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Studies, UBC

Please note that the defence will be held in a Hybrid format in-person in HC 1315 and on Zoom. If you'd like to be added to the Zoom attendee list, please contact gradsecsa@sfu.ca no later than 4PM on Tuesday August 6th, 2024.