From Orphan to Adoptee: U.S. Empire and Genealogies of Korean Adoption

Description

SooJin Pate explores the ways Korean children were employed by the U.S. nation-state to promote the myth of American exceptionalism, to expand U.S. empire during the Cold War, and to solidify notions of the American family. In From Orphan to Adoptee we see how Korean adoption became the crucible in which technologies of the U.S. empire were invented and honed.

SooJin Pate is visiting assistant professor at Macalester College, where she teaches critical race theory, immigration, and postcolonial approaches to the study of U.S. history and culture.

"Complicating existing studies on Korean adoption and Cold War militarism, From Orphan to Adoptee shows how practices of transnational adoption required first the production of the 'orphan' as an available commodity open to transfer. 'Orphans' need not be parentless at all. By demonstrating that 'orphans' were made through various forms of militarized humanitarianism in the years leading up to the Korean War, Pate offers us a counter-history that profoundly changes our understandings of the relationship between U.S. empire and adoption. An original and exciting book." -Mark C. Jerng, University of California, Davis "Pate's work is wide-ranging, highly compelling and certainly an incisive addition to American studies, transnational studies, and orphan/adoptee studies."-Asian American Literature Fans "Pate enlarges the critical lens on international adoption and U.S.-South Korean relations."-Diplomatic History