Blogger and blog-reader, Kara, has asked me to pass onto you, a request for your experience with transracial adoption. You can do that by checking out her webpage with the info, but here's a reprint of some of it:
I’m working on an interview project for a class entitled Intercultural Conflict Resolution. Our topic is intercultural conflict in transracial adoption. As I’m a Korean adoptee myself, this is a topic that’s very personal and sometimes painful to discuss, but some of my classmates do not come from the same places. For the record, my two groupmates are not adopted.
***
Part of the reason this project is important to me is that I object to the basic ethnographic premise of the project, which was to interview people to research a certain topic. While I, myself, am adopted, I make no claim to know the experience of other adoptees, whether Korean or otherwise, not to mention other people involved in adoption. I don’t feel qualified to define the questions of such a project; I don’t think that should be solely up to me or anyone else. This project is required, so its terms are not exactly negotiable, but I far prefer letters and storytelling to rigid questionnaires, as I believe those involved in any kind of research should have control and influence over what questions define such research, not to mention what content comes out of it.
***
This is an invitation to share those stories with us in the form of a letter. These can be letters you have never written before, letters you have already sent, letters you wish you could send, letters you hope to send one day. If you are an adoptee, this could be a letter of advice to your younger self, or a letter to an adoptive parent, a birth parent, or another adoptee. If you are a birth parent, you might write to your biological child, the person or people who adopt that child, etcetera. Any kind of letter is welcome, including ones addressed to us! All letters that we share will be anonymous, so don’t feel pressured to add any names, but please indicate how you identify and to whom your letter is addressed.
These letters may discuss issues of race, identity, and intercultural interaction, but please feel free to personalize them and reflect on your experiences however you wish. Thank you in advance for sharing your stories, experiences, and families of all kinds with us. We feel honored to be able to listen.
For details of what to write and where to send it, see Kara's site.
Comments