File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2001/postcolonial.0107, message 87


From: "William Price" <Lorbarp-AT-btinternet.com>
Subject: Re: 
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 07:02:27 +0100


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.



  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Iris Lavell
  To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
  Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 4:11 AM
  Subject: Re:


  Are you interested in approaching adoptees or adoptive parents?
  Iris
  Unfortunately poor health prevents me going too far afield. But I am prepared to approach any adoptees or parents in North London or Central London areas if any can be identified. Barry Price
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Tobias H=FCbinette
    To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
    Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 2:21 PM


    I am a new Ph.D. Candidate in Korean studies at Stockholm University, Sweden, and I am writing this open letter in order to try to find out both what has been written before and if someone else is doing research on the same subject.
    I will write my dissertation on Korean adoption (se the following presentation), and I have already contacted some scholars on this matter. Unfortunatley very few people seem to know much about this special subject.
    I would be very grateful for answers!



    Presentation


    Since 1954 150,000 Koreans have been adopted to a dozen Western countries. Both the numbers and the time span are unique in a world perspective. Actually for many years international adoption itself was synonymous with Korean adoption. And Korean adoption is still an ongoing phenomenon. Every year around 2000 children leave Korea for overseas adoption.

    Korean adoption was an immediate result of the Korean war 1950-53, itself a result of Western imperialism in the end of the 19th century and Japanese colonialism during the first part of the 20th century. Since the 1860s, and especially during Japanese rule between 1910-45, Koreans emigrated or were forcefully transported abroad in thousands creating a huge diaspora and establishing a tradition of displacement.

    The emigration continued during the authoritarian regimes of the Republic of Korea between 1948-93, creating a diaspora which today numbers 5,8 million people. From a Korean perspective, the adopted Koreans are a part of this huge Korean population living abroad.

    It is often taken for granted that children adopted from non-white and Third world countries leave their original ethnicity behind. This is not the case from a Korean perspective. Since the middle of the 1990s when adoption became a visible question in Korea, adopted Koreans have been treated as ethnic Koreans. This is especially evident in the media and through the acts and laws of the government during Kim Dae-jungs presidency 1998-2003. Even if the existence of the adopted Koreans was hidden and forgotten for many years, today they are remembered and grieved and play a role in the globalization of Korea.

    Through a postcolonial theoretical approach, Korean adoption is viewed as a result of colonialism and continued Western dependency, and the adopted Koreans as a diasporic community of Korean ethnicity. The dissertation is divided into three parts: a historical background to adoption in a Korean setting, the adoption issue in Korean media before 1998 and the main themes during Kim Dae-jung=B4s 8th republic 1998-2003. The third part is an analysis of the articles on adoption published in the Korean newspapers, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, Hankyoreh and Joongang Ilbo.

    The dissertation is raising the following questions: How was the adoption issue transformed from a shameful taboo to a public question? How is the adoption issue treated in today=B4s public discussion? And what is the meaning of the adoption issue in an ethnic perspective with regards to globalization?

    Key words: adoption, diaspora, ethnicity, postcoloniality



    Tobias H=FCbinette/Lee Sam-dol


    Doktorand i koreanska
    Institutionen f=F6r orientaliska spr=E5k
    Stockholms universitet
    106 91 Stockholm

    Tel: 08-16 15 88
    Fax: 08-15 54 64
    E-post: tobias-AT-orient.su.se


    Ph.D. Candidate in Korean studies
    Department of Oriental Languages
    Stockholm University
    S-106 91 Stockholm
    Sweden

    Tel: 46-8-16 15 88
    Fax: 46-8-15 54 64
    E-mail: tobias-AT-orient.su.se

HTML VERSION:

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Iris Lavell
To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 4:11 AM
Subject: Re:

Are you interested in approaching adoptees or adoptive parents?
Iris
Unfortunately poor health prevents me going too far afield. But I am prepared to approach any adoptees or parents in North London or Central London areas if any can be identified. Barry Price
----- Original Message -----
From: Tobias H=FCbinette
To: postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 2:21 PM

I am a new Ph.D. Candidate in Korean studies at Stockholm University, Sweden, and I am writing this open letter in order to try to find out both what has been written before and if someone else is doing research on the same subject.
I will write my dissertation on Korean adoption (se the following presentation), and I have already contacted some scholars on this matter. Unfortunatley very few people seem to know much about this special subject.
I would be very grateful for answers!



Presentation


Since 1954 150,000 Koreans have been adopted to a dozen Western countries. Both the numbers and the time span are unique in a world perspective. Actually for many years international adoption itself was synonymous with Korean adoption. And Korean adoption is still an ongoing phenomenon. Every year around 2000 children leave Korea for overseas adoption.

Korean adoption was an immediate result of the Korean war 1950-53, itself a result of Western imperialism in the end of the 19th century and Japanese colonialism during the first part of the 20th century. Since the 1860s, and especially during Japanese rule between 1910-45, Koreans emigrated or were forcefully transported abroad in thousands creating a huge diaspora and establishing a tradition of displacement.

The emigration continued during the authoritarian regimes of the Republic of Korea between 1948-93, creating a diaspora which today numbers 5,8 million people. From a Korean perspective, the adopted Koreans are a part of this huge Korean population living abroad.

It is often taken for granted that children adopted from non-white and Third world countries leave their original ethnicity behind. This is not the case from a Korean perspective. Since the middle of the 1990s when adoption became a visible question in Korea, adopted Koreans have been treated as ethnic Koreans. This is especially evident in the media and through the acts and laws of the government during Kim Dae-jungs presidency 1998-2003. Even if the existence of the adopted Koreans was hidden and forgotten for many years, today they are remembered and grieved and play a role in the globalization of Korea.

Through a postcolonial theoretical approach, Korean adoption is viewed as a result of colonialism and continued Western dependency, and the adopted Koreans as a diasporic community of Korean ethnicity. The dissertation is divided into three parts: a historical background to adoption in a Korean setting, the adoption issue in Korean media before 1998 and the main themes during Kim Dae-jung=B4s 8th republic 1998-2003. The third part is an analysis of the articles on adoption published in the Korean newspapers, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, Hankyoreh and Joongang Ilbo.

The dissertation is raising the following questions: How was the adoption issue transformed from a shameful taboo to a public question? How is the adoption issue treated in today=B4s public discussion? And what is the meaning of the adoption issue in an ethnic perspective with regards to globalization?

Key words: adoption, diaspora, ethnicity, postcoloniality



Tobias H=FCbinette/Lee Sam-dol


Doktorand i koreanska
Institutionen f=F6r orientaliska spr=E5k
Stockholms universitet
106 91 Stockholm

Tel: 08-16 15 88
Fax: 08-15 54 64
E-post: tobias-AT-orient.su.se


Ph.D. Candidate in Korean studies
Department of Oriental Languages
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden

Tel: 46-8-16 15 88
Fax: 46-8-15 54 64
E-mail: tobias-AT-orient.su.se
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