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Locating Korean American adoptees
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Locating Korean American adoptees
SubTitle
race, emotion, and out-of-place subjectivity
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Park
NamePart
(type = given)
Jane J.
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Jane Park
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
author
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Schein
NamePart
(type = given)
Louisa
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Louisa Schein
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Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
chair
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Hodgson
NamePart
(type = given)
Dorothy
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Dorothy Hodgson
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Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Guarnaccia
NamePart
(type = given)
Peter
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Peter Guarnaccia
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Kim
NamePart
(type = given)
Eleana
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Eleana Kim
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
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NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
school
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Text
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
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2011
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2011-05
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2b);
(type = code)
eng
Abstract
(type = abstract)
Based on multi-site ethnographic methods and in-depth interviews, my dissertation explores identities and subjectivities of Korean American adoptees. Korean adoptee experiences of racial discrimination and the stigma of adoptee status enable their out-of-place subjectivity, indicating that a common identity can be constructed over the life course out of everyday mundane interactions. Drawing on methodology of Willis’ “ethnographic imagination” (2000), I examine mundane social interactions as ethnographic moments that engender and sustain out-of-place subjectivity. As Korean adoptees mature, shared experiences of being alienated and stigmatized intensify the affect that they feel toward each other. The affective identification that they feel provides the bases upon which they can build a lasting bond, an emotional kinship. This creation of bond is aided by spaces centered on adoptees, such as culture camps, adoptee gatherings, and heritage tours, where Korean adoptees meet and interact. I further analyze the sociocultural factors that give force to the adoptee bond, drawing on the concepts of “racial melancholia” (Eng and Han, 2000) and “haunting” (Gordon, 1997) to comprehend this unique emotional bond among Korean adoptees. In contrast to the iconic representations of Korean adoptees/Korean Americans in media as perpetual foreigners, Korean adoptees’ “stories” illustrate that they are just as much a product of varied American cultural milieus as anyone. As such, generational differences are found among Korean adoptees of varying age cohorts, deriving from historically different cultural discourses and practices, as well as changing sociocultural contexts in which international adoptions have taken place. By listening to adoptees from various life stages conceptualize their adoptee status and identity, this dissertation underscores the fact that adoptee identity is a product of complex process, emerging over the life course rather than a static category.
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Anthropology
RelatedItem
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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ETD
Identifier
ETD_3288
PhysicalDescription
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electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
x, 350 p. : ill.
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Jane J. Park
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Adoptees--United States
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Intercountry adoption
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Korean Americans--Ethnic identity
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000061435
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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rucore19991600001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3Z31XZX
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Park
GivenName
Jane
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2011-04-14 12:32:38
AssociatedEntity
Name
Jane Park
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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2677760
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windows xp
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application/pdf
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application/x-tar
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2682880
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