‘Someone’s Roots’: Gender, Rape, and Racialization in Korean American Adoption Narratives

Abstract

Mei Lin, a Korean American adoptee who grew up in Minneapolis, spent a semester of college abroad at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. She did not search for her birth mother while there, but for Mei Lin, the trip was a search for ‘roots.’ The way she phrases this is interesting, however. She did not find her ‘own,’ but rather, ‘someone’s roots.’ She may be stepping back to analyze her life for the interview, but her use of language also suggests that she is articulating a larger story about adoption, race, and identity than is available in US public discourse.

Being an adopted person going back to someone’s roots was an experience. And that was — It was refreshing but also sometimes frustrating. I went to the orphanage that I was from, Eastern Child Welfare. It was right by my school, at Yonsei. I went there and wanted to look at my file.