Kim

    Within her book Adopted Territory Kim describes the global Korean adoptee movement. Kinship, citizenship, belonging and personhood are challenged through various subject-positions. Even though the book is ethnographic, Kim remains an outside position as she has not experienced adoption herself. The book consists of two parts. The first part provides an overview of the historical developments in Korea, beginning with the adoptions after the Korean war. She describes how the children were transformed into orphans, waifs and mascots, to then justify the adoption to other countries. It reminded me of several cases in the DDR, which became public only in the 90ies. The regime of the DDR made use of forced adoption to separate children from parents who were political opponents. I was wondering if it actually makes any difference for the adoptee if the adoption is forced or decided, as the result, the seeking of alternative forms of kinship, citizenship, and belonging, will follow up. How adult adoptees create these new spaces through alternative forms, of kinship, citizenship, and belonging is also described by Kim.

   This book reminded me of several discussions we had in class about Kincaid, Brennan, Lowe, etc. The subjectivity of space and place are one of them. In Adopted Territory an intervention is described, in the form of a government that uses their political power to impact the lives of citizens directly. This is controversial, as the political player is leaving their territory, the public space, and enters the private space of the citizens. It reminded me of concepts of the progressive narrative which is formed by the interplay and the interconnectedness of culture, place and identity.  The interaction of the three also describes their dependence on each other, and how the linking positions the self always subjectively. Regarding this, the meaning of the word kinship was interesting to look at. Kim describes Adoptive Kinship as a form of Public intimacy, which extends the commonly known meaning of kinship beyond biology and adoption. Can kinship be considered subjective, then?