From Orphan to Adoptee: U.S. Empire and Genealogies of Korean Adoption
SooJin Pate
Abstract
Since the 1950s, more than 100,000 Korean children have been adopted by predominantly white Americans; they were orphans of the Korean War, or so the story went. But begin the story earlier, as this book does, and what has long been viewed as humanitarian rescue reveals itself as an exercise in expanding American empire during the Cold War. Transnational adoption was virtually nonexistent in Korea until U.S. military intervention in the 1940s. Currently it generates $35 million in revenue—an economic miracle for South Korea and a social and political boon for the United States. Rather than foc ... More
Since the 1950s, more than 100,000 Korean children have been adopted by predominantly white Americans; they were orphans of the Korean War, or so the story went. But begin the story earlier, as this book does, and what has long been viewed as humanitarian rescue reveals itself as an exercise in expanding American empire during the Cold War. Transnational adoption was virtually nonexistent in Korea until U.S. military intervention in the 1940s. Currently it generates $35 million in revenue—an economic miracle for South Korea and a social and political boon for the United States. Rather than focusing on the families “made whole” by these adoptions, this book identifies U.S. militarism as the condition by which displaced babies became orphans, some of whom were groomed into desirable adoptees, normalized for American audiences, and detached from their past and culture. Using archival research, film, and literary materials—including the cultural work of adoptees—this book explores the various ways in which Korean children were employed by the U.S. nation-state to promote the myth of American exceptionalism, to expand U.S. empire during the burgeoning Cold War, and to solidify notions of the American family.
Keywords:
Korean children,
Korean War,
transnational adoption,
South Korea,
U.S. militarism,
Cold War
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2014 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780816683055 |
| Published to Minnesota Scholarship Online: August 2015 |
DOI:10.5749/minnesota/9780816683055.001.0001 |
