(Please forward comments to Tobias Hübinette <[log in to unmask]>.)

Dear list members,

I am a PhD candidate in Korean studies at Stockholm University, Sweden,
dealing with forced migration, namely the adopted Koreans. I hereby would
like to present my dissertation project as a way of looking for colleagues
among you:

The adopted Koreans: Diaspora politics and the construction of an ethnic
identity in a post-colonial and global setting

This is a presentation of my own PhD project and can be seen as a case study
of the relationship between a diaspora and its homeland, and the
construction of an ethnic group, namely the overseas Koreans, the Republic
of Korea and the adopted Koreans. With regards to diaspora and ethnicity
studies in a post-colonial and global setting, the paper argues that the
adopted Koreans are constructing their own ethnic identity in the Bhabhian
third space between the overseas Koreans, the homeland and the host
countries in the West as a part of a global Korean community which is in the
process of developing, transgressing borders and cultures.

Background

Since the end of the Korean war (1950-53) 150,000 Koreans from the Republic
of Korea (R.O.K.) or South Korea have been adopted to a dozen Western
countries. Still every year around 2000 children leave the country for
overseas adoption. Western military engagement in the war started the
history of adoption as the first children who were sent overseas were
bi-racial. No other country in the world has sent away so many children for
adoption as the R.O.K.

From the 1860s when the Choson dynasty crumbled as a result of Western
imperialism, and especially during Japanese colonial rule between 1910-45,
Koreans emigrated or were forcefully transported abroad in the thousands
establishing a tradition of displacement. The emigration continued during
the authoritarian regimes between 1948-92, creating a diaspora which today
numbers 5 million people.

Since the end of the 1980s when adoption became an open issue in after years
of shame and secretiveness, adopted Koreans have been treated as a diasporic
community of Korean ethnicity. This is truly evident when studying the media
and the acts of the government during Kim Dae-jung´s presidency. Even if the
existence of the adopted Koreans was hidden for many years, today they are
remembered and play an important role in the globalization of Korea. The
adopted Koreans are seen as an integrated part of the worldwide Korean
community together with the Chosonjok in China, the Chaemi Kyopo in the
U.S., the Zainichi Chosenjin in Japan and the Koryo Saram in Central Asia.
The continuing adoption of children from the R.O.K. is a sign of the
country´s dependency to the West and a symbol of a postcolonial nation
perceived not only as one big family but also as a dispersed family. The
adoption from the R.O.K. is viewed as a result of colonialism and Western
world hegemony, and the adopted Koreans as one of the most extreme results
of modern Korean history.

Leading Western theorists in ethnicity and diaspora studies, would not
consider the adopted Koreans neither as an ethnic group nor a diaspora in a
classical Western meaning. The group lacks everything from a common language
to any serious attempts to endogamy and the existence of a myth of a
homeland. Instead adopted Koreans are considered a part of their host
countries with no relation at all to Korea or their Korean families. The
result is that adopted Koreans are expected to be loyal to their adoptive
parents and assimilate fully to their host cultures. Those who are showing
an active interest in Korean culture or want to re-connect to their Korean
family are accused of exposing nationalism and biologism, which is
considered un-acceptable for a typical Western left-liberal discourse.

Already in the middle of the 1980s, the first generation of adopted Koreans
who had reached adulthood started to organize themselves, and today there
are associations in almost every country affected by adoption from Korea.
This organized adopted Korean community started to interact globally in the
1990s. In 1998 G.O.A.L., Global Overseas Adoptees´ Link, was created by a
group of adopted Koreans who had returned to Korea, and in 1999 the First
International Gathering of Adopted Koreans was held in Washington D.C., the
Second two years later in Oslo, Norway, and a third being planned for Seoul,
Korea, within a few years.

The movement of adopted Koreans is now trying to create an ethnic identity
of its own in the third space between their birth country´s dream of a
global ethnic Korean community where the adopted Koreans are automatically
perceived as Korean brethren, and Western culture which demands complete
assimilation and absolute loyalty and refuses to give space to anything else
but rescue fantasies, colonial desires and orientalist performances.

Key words: adoption, diaspora, ethnicity, globalization, postcoloniality

Sincerely,

Tobias Hübinette a.k.a. Lee Sam-dol

Doktorand i koreanska
Institutionen för orientaliska språk
Stockholms universitet
106 91 Stockholm

Tel: 46-8-16 15 88
Fax: 46-8-15 54 64
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

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

Presentations:
Department of Korean Studies: www.orient.su.se/koreanskapersonal.html
Center for Pacific Asian Studies: www.orient.su.se/cpasStaff.html
Info Portal Asia: www.sub.su.se:591/sidor/forskning/koreaforsk/tobias/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the
Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by the Refugee Studies
Centre (RSC), University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the
views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or
re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or extracts
should include attribution to the original sources.