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Journal article
Reversing the Gaze: An Autoethnographic Critique of Transracial-Transnational Adoption to Australia
Child & family social work, Vol.First online, pp.1-10
06/05/2025
Appears in Recent Faculty of Health Publications
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Abstract
In this paper, we engage with rescue and saviour narratives surrounding transracial-transnational adoption (also known as intercountry adoption) as a provocation and as manufactured myths. These myths have erased the nuances and complexities of transracial-transnational adoption by commodifying adoptees as pitiful orphans in need of rescue, first families as incapable or unworthy, and adoptive parents, countries and organizations as benevolent saviours, with adoption as a purely humanitarian act. The arguments presented here are both personal and political and are attempted through a decolonial reflexive lens. The paper deploys an autoethnographic approach examining aspects of white hegemony in adoption, unpacking the experiences of adopted South Korean Australians (adoptees of Korean descent raised in hegemonically white families and communities) to explore how whiteness shapes and obscures one's self-understanding of adoption and how colourblindness appropriates and colonizes their identity as 'white Asians' or 'invisible Asians'. These experiences will be compared and critiqued with broader adoption literature and interwoven with narrative and creative productions by South Korean adoptees-to articulate and centre adoptees' voices as experts in their own lives and to contribute to a decolonial politics of knowledge production and a step towards the decolonization of adoption.
Details
- Title
- Reversing the Gaze: An Autoethnographic Critique of Transracial-Transnational Adoption to Australia
- Creators
- Samara Kim - Southern Cross UniversityKathomi Gatwiri - Southern Cross UniversityLynne Mcpherson - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Child & family social work, Vol.First online, pp.1-10
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- Number of pages
- 10
- Grant note
- RMIT University, Wiley - RMIT University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians
- Identifiers
- 991013285535602368
- Copyright
- © 2025 The Author(s). Child & Family Social Work published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Academic Unit
- Centre for Children and Young People; Social Work; Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article