In the last fifty years, transnational adoption—specifically, the adoption of Asian children—has exploded in popularity as an alternative path to family making. Despite the cultural acceptance of this practice, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the factors that allowed Asian international adoption to flourish. In Global Families, Catherine Ceniza Choy unearths the little-known historical origins of Asian international adoption in the United States. Beginning with the post-World War II presence of the U.S. military in Asia, she reveals how mixed-race children born of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese women and U.S. servicemen comprised one of the earliest groups of adoptive children.
Based on extensive archival research, Global Families moves beyond one-dimensional portrayals of Asian international adoption as either a progressive form of U.S. multiculturalism or as an exploitative form of cultural and economic imperialism. Rather, Choy acknowledges the complexity of the phenomenon, illuminating both its radical possibilities of a world united across national, cultural, and racial divides through family formation and its strong potential for reinforcing the very racial and cultural hierarchies it sought to challenge.
February 2022 - Arrival of Dr. Seo-Yeon Jang, RCKC Visiting Scholar
We are very pleased to announce the arrival of a new visiting scholar for 2022. Dr. Seo-Yeon Jang is a Professor in the Department of Tourism at Korea...
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March 11, 2022 - Pyong Gap Min Gave Zoom Talk on Asian Immigration Patterns, Demographic Characteristics, and NY-NJ Korean Enclaves
On March 11, 2022, Professor Pyong Gap Min—Director of RCKC—gave a Zoom talk hosted by Open Forum.
The Korean-language talk provided key statistica...
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February 11, 2022 - Pyong Gap Min Presented Paper on "Asian Americans: Their Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics, and Ethnic/Racial Identities"
On February 11, 2022, Chung-Ang University's Institute of Cultural Diversity Content held an online International Conference titled "Cultura...
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Call for Papers for Special Issue Responding to Ramseyer's Article on "Comfort Women"
Call for Papers: Special issue in the Journal of International Women’s Studies (JIWS): Critical Evaluations of J. Mark Ramseyer’s Arguments for “Comfo...
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